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~playauthor~Written by~ Bryony Lavery , Bryony Lavery , Robert Louis Stevenson ~playauthor~Adapted by~ Bryony Lavery ~playauthor~From an original work by~ Robert Louis Stevenson
Faber and Faber,
Faber Drama
playtext
Acts: 2, Scenes: 31, Roles: Total (24), Female (8), Male (16), Unassigned (0)
It’s a dark and stormy night. Jim, the inn-keeper’s granddaughter, opens the door to a terrifying stranger. At the old sailor’s feet sits a huge sea-chest, full of secrets. Jim invites him in – and her dangerous voyage begins
More Light
Against a back-projection screen, a solitary girl sits in full traditional dress and tells the story of Qin Shi Huang, First Emperor of unified China, and the construction of the awesome tomb in which he was interred.
The girl, More Light, is one of the Emperor's handmaidens, and she slowly delineates the wonder of the building and opulent procession into the inner sanctum with the corpse of the Emperor before being sealed inside.
This interpretation of Bryony Lavery's play has been well accomplished, with the initial solo piece lulling the audience into one mind state, leading to slight surprise when the second act of the piece continues with the full cast of handmaidens and charting their descent into cannibalism, murder and madness.
The piece is acted well, in an accomplished mixture of standard dramatic acting and measured interpretive movement. The slight downfall of the piece, inherent to the text, is the final scenes, and an unfortunately gruff turn by the sole male actor, whose barked delivery made most of his lines indecipherable.
Otherwise this is a fascinating piece by an intriguing new company.
Bryony Lavery
BIOGRAPHY
Bryony Lavery is an award-winning British dramatist. Her play Frozen won the TMA Best Play Award and the Eileen Anderson Central Television Award and was produced at Birmingham Rep, the Royal National Theatre, and on Broadway where it was nominated for four Tony Awards. Stockholm (for Frantic Assembly) won the WolffWhiting Award for Best Play of Beautiful Burnout (for The National Theatre of Scotland and Frantic Assembly) received a Fringe First at Edinburgh, going on to have productions in the UK, New York, Australia and New Zealand. Other works include: Her Aching Heart (Pink Paper Play of The Year), Smoke, Dirt (nominated for the Charles McArthur Award for Most Outstanding Play or Musical of , Washington DC), Treasure Island (Royal National Theatre), Balls (StagesHouston /59E59E, New York), co-written with Kevin Armento, Brighton Rock (Pilot Theatre/York Theatre Royal/UK tour); The Borrowers (Storyhouse Chester); Slime (The Only Animal Theatre Company, Vancouver), The Lovely Bones and Oliver Twist (for Ramps OnThe Moon/Leeds Playhouse). Current projects include Oscar and The Pink Lady (The Crucible Theatre, Sheffield), Sputnik Sweetheart (Arcol
More Light
More Light is an example of that rare genre, the cannibalism comedy. The play was apparently inspired by the Chinese Warrior exhibition that brought in armies of culture vultures to the British Museum last year.
It is set in the tomb of a well-prepared Emperor who for some reason, though never seen, sounds exactly like a Dalek.
As death approaches, the old man prepares himself, entombing not only his own carcass but an army cast in bronze (not terracotta), his finest courtiers and seven infertile, young wives.
Led by More Light, played by tyro director, Catrina Lear, the immaculately-costumed girls occupy a beautiful chamber. This is illuminated by red lanterns with golden doors (last seen in the National Theatre's production of Oedipus starring Ralph Fiennes) and sarcophagus, much to the credit of a designer not named in the programme but in fact the talented team of Jasper Britton and Miss Lear.
As More Light narrates their sad story, the wives who have concubine names like Love Mouth, Playful Kitten and Pure Joy mime in ensemble unison, bringing the occasional wry smile to the face. When they get hungry, what could be more sensible than to eat the man who
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