His piece Thebas Land is a success in London.
The play Thebas Land by Uruguayan playwright Sergio Blanco received two nominations in the Off West End Awards (also known as The Offies) in the categories Best New Play and Best Set Designer. The winners will be known in February at the award ceremony. The play premiered in Uruguay in 2013 and currently playing at the Arcola Theatre in London, is based in he Oedipus myth. The play tells the encounters between a young man convicted for the murder of his father and a playwright, at the jail’s basket courts. Or so it seems in the beginning. Because we learn that the refusal of the Ministry of Justice to grant permission for the convict to appear onstage has led the playwright to recruit an actor to portray him. We see the twin processes of research and rehearsal, which are interleaved.
Thebes Land was defined as an electrifying tale about truth and fiction, retribution and justice Blanco’s oeuvre has played sold-out runs in eight countries worldwide.
Uruguayan playwright Sergio Blanco, one of Latin America’s most exciting voices, tease the boundaries between truth and lies, what you know and what you think you know.
Called a darkly funny and frequently surprising drama, the play is staged inside an enormous steel cage.
The English version was premiered in November 30 at the Arcola Theater in London and will be in stage until December 23. The director is Daniel Goldman (who was also the piece translator) and the set designer is Jemima Robinson. Actors Trevor White and Alex Austin play the roles.
The piece received universal acclaim by the London press.
Lyn Gardner wrote in The Guardian:
“The gaze, and how we see – particularly in the theatre – is at the heart of this play that operates like a clever, sometimes infuriating and occasionally exhilarating puzzle that draws from Oedipus and representations of parricide in art and literature, and considers classical and contemporary myth-making as it explores the process of making a fiction out of real lives. It also asks questions about truth and authenticity along the way. If that sounds dry, it isn’t. It’s frequently sublimely funny”.
Sources: La Diaria, MarcaPaís
