Landscape with Weapon (Modern Plays) - Softcover

Penhall, Joe

Softcover

ISBN 10: 071368805X ISBN 13: 9780713688054

Publisher: Methuen Drama, 2008

Synopsis

"'Qualms?' Oh yeah, sure, I have 'qualms'. Everybody has qualms. But I'll overcome them."

To his family's horror, Ned reveals he's the brains behind a new military technology so sophisticated, so extraordinary, it will revolutionise the nature of warfare. It's only when the Ministry of Defence demands intellectual ownership that Ned begins to question himself, resisting the might of the weapons industry with frightening consequences.

Landscape with Weapon is a wry account of private anguish, public responsibility and a problem with no solution. The play premiered at the National Theatre on 20 March 2007.

Joe Penhall's previous work for the National Theatre, Blue/Orange, was the winner of the Olivier Awards Best Play (2001), the Evening Standard Award Best Play (2000), and the Critics Circle Award Best Play (2000).

About this title

About the Author

Award-winning writer Joe Penhall was described by The
Financial Times as 'one of the finest playwrights of his generation.' His debut
at the Royal Court, Some Voices, won the John Whiting Award for best new play.
His National Theatre play Blue/Orange won an Olivier Award, an Evening
Standard Award and the Critics Circle Award for Best Play. Joe wrote and
produced the BAFTA winning BBC serial Moses
Jones and his feature film of Some Voices starred Daniel Craig and
premiered in competition at the Cannes Film festival . This was followed
by Enduring Love, also starring Daniel Craig, based on Ian McEwan's
novel; and his adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's novel, The Road, starring
Charlize Theron and Viggo Mortensen, which premiered in competition at the
Venice Film Festival in 2009.

Review

'Penhall turns the theatre into a debating chamber in Roger Michell's tense, terrific production. The debate is electrifyingly charged in the performances of Tom Hollander and Julian Rhind-Tutt as the two brothers... ...This is an important and bracing intellectual drama that brilliantly humanises a moral conundrum.' Sunday Express 'Intriguing new play about the moral and psychological implications of the arms trade...Penhall shows a subtle feel for the big issues in small settings.' Daily Mail 'Fascinating... constantly subtle and engaging...Hollander gives an extraordinary portrait of myopic preoccupation and subsequent unravelling. Julian Rhind-Tutt is magnetic, beautifully light verbally and physically...Their relationship, finely steered by Roger Michell, solders the play together and makes a crisis into a drama.' Observer 'Joe Penhall's gift for dramatising uncomfortable arguments is again apparent in his powerful new play about the arms industry and the moral responsibility of the scientist. Roger Michell's production does justice to its lithe intelligence, emotional pain and rueful humour. Tom Hollander is excellent... The ending is bleakly beautiful.' Independent, Critics' Choice 'Riveting...bitterly funny play in which [Penhall] sets the aesthetic world of the creator against the harsh realities of politics. It's a series of debates in which the emotions run deep as the ideas...Penhall has a terrific ability to explore moral conundrums dramatically...hones in on the argument with accuracy and force' 5 STARS / SHOW OF THE WEEK / CRITICS' CHOICE #1 Jane Edwardes, Time Out

Edition details

• Publisher: Methuen Drama
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 071368805X
• ISBN 13: 9780713688054
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 96