june 2008 programmes

thursday 12^th june
7.00 pm ‘Russia Dying’ New versions of Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard and Alexei Arbuzov's The Promise
OFF THE MANTLE # 10 The First City Theatre Readings 

To celebrate its tenth Off The Mantle reading, The First City Theatre Foundation picks scenes from two  recent rewritings of classic plays from the Russian theatre. The first is American playwright David Mamet’s adaptation of Chekhov’s masterpiece, The Cherry Orchard. Audacious and consistently arresting, Mamet’s version blows a gust of fresh air into this classic. Similarly, Nick Dear’s striking adaptation of The Promise brings out the lyrical subtleties of Alexei Arbuzov’s original play from the 60s – a powerfully historic and ironic drama set amidst the post-war reconstruction in Russia.

thursday 26^th  june
7.00 pm ‘The Laramie Project’ a play by Moises Kaufman
OFF THE MANTLE # 11 The First City Theatre Readings

 The Laramie Project was devised and written by New York's Tectonic Project Theatre group in the aftermath of the brutal murder of Mathew Shepard, a gay student in Laramie, Wyoming. Members of the group travelled to Laramie shortly after the incident and conducted over 200 interviews with the town people. The play draws on these interviews, the company members' own journal entries and published news reports, virtuously determined to find light in an event of harrowing darkness. The First City Theatre Foundation reads selections from this deeply moving work of theatre journalism