New Directors, Classic Writing

Archive Listings for New Directors, Classic Writing

A Kind of Alaska/Handbagged - T27113745 Author Harold Pinter (A Kind of Alaska). Author Moira Buffini (Handbagged).
10 Apr 12 to 14 Apr 12	Progress Theatre, Reading :: V737 listing details L559758571

Details

Play :: A Kind of Alaska - A middle-aged woman named Deborah, who has been in a comatose state for thirty years as a result of contracting sleeping sickness, awakes with a mind still that of a sixteen-year-old. She must confront a body which seems to have aged without her prior knowledge or consent. Inspired by an existing work - Oliver Sacks' study of patients waking from sleeping sickness - this involving drama explores what happens when our self-perception comes face to face with a very different reality. Handbagged - For over a decade Margaret Thatcher met the Queen for a weekly audience. With all her previous Prime Ministers the Queen enjoyed a fairly informal relationship, but with Mrs. Thatcher, things were different. Handbagged is an extremely witty look at what the relationship between these two very powerful and private women might have been like, including the influence of two key men: Ronald Reagan and Michael Shea. It provides a wonderful opportunity for four actresses to portray the two formidable women at different stages of their life.