Blackbird: Information from Answers.com

This article is about the David Harrower play. For other theatrical works with similar titles, see Blackbird (disambiguation).

Blackbird

Written by	David Harrower
Date premiered	2005
Place premiered	Edinburgh Festival Edinburgh, Scotland
Original language	English
Subject	an awkward reunion 15 years after a sexual affair when he was 40 and she was 12
Genre	Drama

Blackbird is a 2005 one-act (90 minute) play by Scottish 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.

1 Productions
2 Synopsis
3 Productions
4 Awards and nominations
5 References
6 Further reading
7 External links

Productions

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]^[2]

In September 2006 it was well received by critics and audience when it premiered in Stockholm at Dramaten (Royal Dramatic Theatre), in a co-production with Helsingborg City Theatre, directed by Eva Dahlman; with Göran Stangertz as Ray and Anna Björk as Una.^[3]^[4]^[5]

In the spring of 2007 the play received simultaneous American premieres by the Manhattan Theater Club off-Broadway and at American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco The New York production was directed by Joe Mantello.^[6]

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.^[7]

In March 2008 the play opened in Mumbai, India, starring Indian film and theatre veterans Akash Khurana and Shernaz Patel. It is an Akvarious Production and has since done shows in Bangalore and New Delhi. ^[8]

Synopsis

At his workplace, 55-year-old Ray is shocked to be visited by a young woman, 27-year-old Una. 15 years earlier, when Una was only 12, the two had a sexual affair, for which Ray was arrested and imprisoned. He has managed to establish a reasonably successful new life under another name, but Una recognized him in a photograph and tracked him down.

Ray takes Una to the office break room, where the two engage in a long and difficult confrontation involving Una's continuing struggles to understand and come to terms with the affair and her intensely conflicting emotions. These rocket back and forth between anger, curiosity, confusion, and even a persistent attachment to Ray, whom Una loved and believed loved her. The fearful Ray parries her demanding questions and descriptions of her feelings and experiences, all the while uncertain of her intentions.

Productions

Théâtre du Nouveau Monde

September 2009, Montréal, Québec.

Maurice Bénichou
Philomène Bilodeau
Léa Drucker

Directed by Claudia Stavisky.

Slovenian Theatre

In 10th May 2009 the play had its Slovenian language premiere at Cankar Hall, Ljubljana, Slovenija. Slovene title is Črni kos.

Iva Babič
Janez Starina
Lucija Tratnik

Directed by Rene Maurin (http://maurin.si/Blackbird.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjWovl6Utog)

Victory Gardens Biograph Theater

See also Biograph Theater. Directed by Dennis Začek (^[9])

William Petersen .... Ray
Mattie Hawkinson .... Una

Národní divadlo

Directed by Jiří Pokorný. Translated by David Drozd. The play had premiere in 26th February 2010 in National Theatre, Prague. (^[10])
Jiří Štěpnička .... Ray
Jana Pidrmanová .... Una