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Current
Projects
Dead
Hands
On
Tour Autumn 2004
Death can also
transform the living
A young man learns
that his father is dying. He drives furiously to reach the bedside. But
he arrives too late. The dead man's mistress shows him to the room where
the body lies and leaves him to his grief. His younger brother appears.
He was present at the death but his attitude is strangely ambiguous. He
seems reluctant to engage with his elder brother, who immediately suspects
him of a secret...
How
far did the dead man plan these encounters? Are the actions and thoughts
of the bereaved all part of an elaborate scheme thought up by the dying
man? And what are the mistress' intentions towards the surviving sons?
Suspense, suspicion
and paranoia build in Howard Barker's erotic and disturbing new play in
which sexual fantasy veers from casual adventure into inescapable servitude.
Powerful poetic language, provocative ideas and rich, dark humour build
a shocking yet compelling exploration of bereavement and sexual imagination.
Dead
Hands is an intimately
emotional piece about the experience of death in a family. It shows how
the silence of the recently died can provoke a strained and bitter dialogue
among the survivors. Barker's plays have often celebrated the secret.
Here the secrets of the dead inspire extreme speculation. Should we fear
death not for itself but for the fate that it inflicts on the survivors?
The legacy of death is not only a dispensing of property but also of emotion,
pain and a remembered life. If death is the last great secret, then those
who witness it must surely be drawn into its mystery?
Dead Hands is
directed by Howard Barker in the company's distinctive style, working
with the team that created the highly successful productions of 13
Objects, Gertrude, and He Stumbled.
"A
play about dying that makes you feel a lttle baffled but strangely pleased
to be alive...Tantalisingly ripe and juicy to the end.. " Birmingham
Post
Warning: This play
contains nudity, explicit language and extreme moral speculation.
Photos on this page
by Robert Workman www.robertworkman.demon.co.uk
TOUR SCHEDULE
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Oct Fri 15 - Sat 23
Matinee Sat 16 and Thu 21 Oct
Post Show Discussion on 15th
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Birmingham Rep (The Door) |
0121 245 2000 |
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Oct Wed 27
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Loughborough University Arts Centre |
01509 222899 |
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Nov Tue 1 - Sun 14
Matinee Sat 13th
Post Show Discussion on 5th
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London Riverside Studios |
020 8237 1111 |
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Nov Tue 16
Post Show Discussion on 16th
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Brighton Gardner Centre |
01273 685881 |
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Nov Thur 18
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Fareham Ashcroft Arts Centre |
01329 235161 |
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Nov Fri 19- Sat 20
Post Show Discussion on 19th
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Poole Lighthouse |
01202 665334 |
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Nov Mon 22- Wed 24
Pre-show talk by Howard Barker on 23th
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Colchester Mercury Theatre |
01206 573948 |
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Nov Thur 23- Sat 27
NB: Performances cancelled
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London Hoxton Hall
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Further
details or to join our mailing list:
The Wrestling School
42 Durlston Road
London E5 8RR
wrestles@aol.com email
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junk mail filter
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Dead Hands
ISBN
1-84002-464-X
Published
by Oberon Books
521 Caledonian Road London N7 9RH Tel +44
20 7607 3637
oberon.books@btinternet.com
www.oberonbooks.com
Howard Barker's
new book
Death The One and the Art of Theatre
Published by Routledge
2 Park Square Milton Park Abingdon Oxon OX14 4PN
www.routledge.com
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Supported by Arts
Council England
Future plans......
May/June 2005
The Fence
Inspired by the long distance fence under construction in the Gaza to
separate the Palestinian and Jewish communities, Howard Barker's latest
play explores one of the great social issues of our times. Set in a world
of rising frontiers and illegal immigration, The Fence uses
powerful poetic language, provocative ideas and rich, dark humour to build
a compelling and sexually provocative epic about scandal in a ruling monarchy
and its subsequent downfall.
At the heart of this
tale is the intensely personal story of a blind boy's struggle to discover
his true identity in a world where nothing is what it seems
To be presented on main stages in Birmingham, Colchester,
Oxford and York in May/June 2005.
Watch this space for further
details.
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