David Harrower

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David Harrower (born in 1966 in Edinburgh) is a Scottish playwright who (as of 2005) lives inGlasgow.

He is a contemporary of "in-yer-face theatre" though his plays are less explicitly and more metaphorically and poetically imaginative than many of the writers most obviously associated with that era[citation needed].

His agents (as of 2005) are Casarotto Ramsay.

Contents

[edit] Career

Harrower's first play, Knives in Hens, which premiered at Edinburgh's Traverse Theatrein 1995, was considered a critical and popular success. It deals with a relationship triangle in a rural setting, and a woman's internal quest to find out what she wants from life.

Subsequent plays include Kill the Old Torture Their Young (Traverse, 1998), a city play following a disparate group of characters across Edinburgh, mixing realism with poetry and fantasy. Presence (Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, April 2001) takes another look at the Beatles's legendary residency at the Star Club in Hamburg on the eve of their success, and Dark Earth (Traverse, August 2003) begins as a broad comedy and turns into a speculation about the meaning of history and the land.

Harrower has also written adaptations including: The Chrysalids (1999), adapted from John Wyndham's novel, for the National Theatre's Connections project; a version of Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author (Six Characters Looking for an Author (2000)), first staged at the Young Vic in 2000; Chekhov's Ivanov (2002), performed at the National Theatre; and Buchner's Woyzeck, performed at the Edinburgh Lyceum in 2002.

He has also translated The Girl on the Sofa (2002), a new play by Jon Fosse, presented in a joint production by the Edinburgh International Festival and the Schaubuhne, Berlin, and Schiller's Mary Stuart for the National Theatre of Scotland/Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh/Citizens' Theatre, Glasgow.

In 2005, his play Blackbird was produced by the Edinburgh International Festival, directed by Peter Stein and transferred in February 2006 to the Albery Theatre in London's West End [1]. It 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, sexuality and guilt and is written in a sinuously and subtly poetic style[citation needed]. In April 2008 the play was revived by David Grindley at the Rose Theatre, Kingston prior to a national tour [2].

[edit] Plays

[edit] Original plays

  • Knives in Hens
  • Kill the Old Torture Their Young
  • Presence
  • Dark Earth
  • Blackbird

[edit] Adaptations & translations

[edit] Bibliography

  • Knives in Hens Methuen, 1997
  • Kill the Old Torture their Young Methuen, 1998
  • Presence Faber and Faber, 2001
  • Six Characters Looking for an Author (Luigi Pirandello) in a new version for the Young Vic Methuen, 2001
  • The Chrysalids (adaptation) Faber and Faber, 2001
  • Ivanov (Anton Chekhov) in a new version for the Royal National Theatre Oberon, 2002
  • Purple (Jon Fosse) Faber and Faber/NT Connections, 2002
  • The Girl on the Sofa (Jon Fosse) Oberon, 2002
  • Dark Earth Faber and Faber, 2003
  • Tales from the Vienna Woods (Ödön von Horváth) in a new version for the RNT Faber and Faber, 2003

[edit] References

[edit] External links