How to Hold Your Breath

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Zinnie Harris: Interview with the playwright about her shows Zinnie Harris: Interview with the playwright about her shows

The Scent of Roses | The Lyceum | Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh". lyceum.org.uk. 5 March 2022 . Retrieved 2023-01-15. Last Updated on 26th February 2015 Maxine Peake and Peter Forbes in How To Hold Your Breath. Photo: Manuel Harlan Starting with a seemingly innocent one night stand, this dark, witty and magical play dives into our recent European history. An epic look at the true cost of principles and how we live now. Harris’ original play, The Scent of Roses, had its world premiere at the Royal Lyceum Theatre in 2022, [22] followed by a revival of Further than the Furthest Thing at the Young Vic in London the following year. [23] Directing work [ edit ] With impressive artistry, Harris uses a seemingly innocent encounter to wrench upon concepts of modern day morality. Ideas on immigration are turned on their head, as the characters look for aid and support from countries south of Europe. In a similar vein to Harris' previous Royal Court production, N ightingale and Chase, women are at the heart of her story with Dana and Jasmine as representatives for generations of forgotten voices. Throughout the unfolding horror of their journey sharp wit sparks aside melancholic monologues.This story will be told, the way it has always been told. What else use is it otherwise? The hags on the heath. The woman who went mad. The man who became a tyrant.

How To Hold Your Breath - Royal Court

A witty performance from Peter Forbes as a librarian with more than a passing interest in creatures of the underworld – no relation to Rupert Giles – and a helpful collection of books catered for every possible, niche eventuality; How To Look Like You’re Enjoying Yourself While Your Skin Is Repelled, How To Get To Sleep Despite The Extreme Heat etc etc. In a nutshell? A one-night stands turns into the fall of European civilisation....and the finishing touch of "a soothing quality of mercy" is that Dana drowns?Maison Antoine Vitez / Centre International de la Traduction Théâtrale". Maison Antoine Vitez (in French) . Retrieved 2018-10-15. In truth, this show won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. But that’s the brilliant thing about the Royal Court; its fearless programming takes risks and stages challenging, divisive pieces of work that will leave you reeling and full of questions. How To Hold Your Breath is no exception, and if you like your drama delivered with a creative, witty, intelligent and political punch – with the exceptional Peake as a bonus, of course – this show’s surreal, dark vision is likely to dazzle. Everything happens on the same junk-covered set, with no sense that Dana and Jasmin are actually travelling anywhere. Coupled with Dana’s hallucinogenic visitations from both Shaeffer’s increasingly agitated Jarron and Peter Forbes’s amusingly prissy, quasi-angelic librarian and Featherstone almost seems to be interpreting ‘How To Hold Your Breath’ as taking place in its protagonist’s head. But to what end? If none of it is really happening, the geopolitical stuff loses value, as does Jasmin, whose heartbreaking, ugly late monologue about her baby is one of the play’s stand-out moments. Clearly it is at least real on some level, but Featherstone muddies it enough to sap the play’s momentum, while the relentlessly dour tone squishes the considerable sparkle in Harris’s dialogue. Now in the realms of fantasy, the play appears to become a magical Faustian fable, yet still just about rooted in reality. However, Harris steers the play in another direction where reality fractures in a journey that increasingly becomes a nightmare. Society and the economy disintegrate around them as the women’s trip turns into a desperate bid to flee as illegal immigrants to safety in Africa. David Greig for The Cosmonaut's Last Message ... and Tanika Gupta for The Waiting Room (shared) (2000)