Blackbird (play)

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Blackbird is a 2004 play by British playwright David Harrower. It was inspired in part by the crimes of sex offender Toby Studebaker and depicts the meeting between a young woman and a middle-aged man with whom, fifteen years earlier, at the age of 12, she had had a sexual relationship. The play restlessly challenges our preconceptions about innocence, power and sexuality.

[edit] Performance history

Blackbird was commissioned by the Edinburgh International Festival and premiered at the 2005 festival under the direction of Peter Stein. In February 2006 it opened at the West End Albery Theatre with Roger Allam and Jodhi May in the primary roles [1]. ^[1].

In the spring of 2007 the play received simultaneous American premieres by the Manhattan Theater Club off-Broadway [2] and at American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco The New York production was directed by Joe Mantello.

In April 2008 the play was revived in a new production by David Grindley at the Rose Theatre, Kingston (in south-west London) prior to a national tour of the UK [3].

It is currently being performed in Sydney, Australia under the direction of Academy Award-winning actress Cate Blanchett, and in Abingdon, VA (USA) at the Barter Theatre.

It is being performed in İstanbul, Turkey under the direction of Emre Koyuncuoğlu and Turkish premiere opened on 14 February 2008, the day which is ironically Valentine's Day.

A production will be staged in Christchurch, New Zealand under the direction of Stephanie McKellar-Smith at The Forge at The Court Theatre (NZ) from 26 September - 25 October 2008.