Cast

Synopsis

Una, a 27-year-old woman, comes to visit Ray, a 55-year-old man, at his office. They are clearly not comfortable in other’s company, and we soon find out why: 15 years before, when Una was only twelve, Ray seduced Una over the course of three months and finally took her away to a hotel for the weekend. Ray spent several years in prison for statutory rape, and Una was ostracized from her community after the incident. Now, she has found him by accident, and the play delves into their complex feelings for each other. Though clearly, and definitionally, sexual abuse has occurred, the play that ensues is also part of a love story – a horrible love story, but a love story all the same. Winner of the Olivier Award for Best Play, Blackbird is a deeply complex portrayal of two people whose ruined lives are inextricably intertwined.

Directors Notes

How do you approach a play like Blackbird? Where do you start? From the first reading it is clear that you are dealing with a powerful, inspired piece of theatre: the play does not provide answers, but rather poses unsettling questions to the reader and the audience that they’ve probably never had to consider before.

The intimate atmosphere of the Theatre Upstairs is a perfect space for the actors and director to explore and experience, without prejudice, the raw power and the themes and truths, painful though they may be, unleashed in David Harrower’s superb, award-winning play.

Collaborating on this play with the talented BLT team has been challenging for all of us, but also incredibly rewarding. The role of the director is to help the actors navigate their way through an exhausting and demanding rehearsal process, enabling the actor to be able to portray their character’s innermost feelings and emotions truthfully. We do this by rigorously questioning and testing the text to breathe life and energy into the performances. We can only do this with the support of the dedicated creative team to whom I am truly indebted.

My sincere thanks to you all for the support, knowledge, understanding and professionalism displayed whilst working on Blackbird together. The actual performance is a sum of parts, that, when seamlessly put together, create moments of theatrical magic.

You, the audience, too have a part to play. You will experience being in the same claustrophobic space with the actors as their story unfolds before you.

Staging this powerful play is a brave choice: live theatre is meant to confront. Live theatre helps us to see a different perspective from our own: we’re shown humanity, psychology, motivation, conflict and resolution.

So, forget about your preconceived notions of love and morality: this play forces us all to watch – and challenges us not to look away – as two lives are crudely and painfully dissected in front of us.

Winner of the 2007 Olivier Award for Best New Play, David Harrower’s explosive work was the hit of the Edinburgh International Festival in 2005 and a sell out success at the Albery Theatre in London’s West End in 2006 starring Roger Allam and Jodhi May.

In 2016 the play was staged on Broadway. Featuring Michelle Williams and Jeff Daniels, it played to packed houses and enjoyed great critical acclaim.