Power

Chateau de Vincennes. Some say power is an illusion. But Louis is the master of illusion. He has turned government into a spectacle, politics into a circus. The state as theatre, his life the drama. And the audience applaud, watch him dress, applaud, watch him undress, applaud, go home.

Nick Dear's plays include Lunch in Venice (NT Connections, 2005); Power (NT, 2003); The Villains' Opera (NT, 2000); Zenobia (RSC, 1995); In the Ruins (Bristol Old Vic, 1990); Food of Love (Theatre de Complicite, Almeida, 1988); The Art of Success (RSC, 1986); Pure Science (RSC, 1986); and Temptation (RSC, 1984). He also collaborated with Peter Brook on the development of Qui est la? (Bouffes du Nord, 1996). His adaptations include The Promise (after Arbuzov, Tricycle, 2002); Summerfolk (after Gorky, NT, 1999); Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (after Moliere, NT, 1992); The Last Days of Don Juan (after Tirso de Molina, RSC ,1990); and A Family Affair (after Ostrovsky, Cheek by Jowl, 1988). His screenplays include Persuasion, The Turn of the Screw, Cinderella, The Gambler, Byron, Eroica and Agatha Christie's Poirot. Opera libretti include The Palace in the Sky (ENO / Hackney Empire, 2001); and Siren Song (Almeida Opera Festival, 1994). He has also written extensively for BBC Radio, beginning with his first play, Matter Permitted (1980).