Now or Later

Description

"Its brilliance lies in the way Shinn marries ideological debate to psychological complexity, shedding light, laser-bright and precise, on the way in which political discourse informs and shapes individual experience." The Times Election night in the U.S. and things are looking rosy for the Democratic Party as the likely President-elect, his wife, advisors, and twenty-year-old son John Jnr prepare for victory. When controversial photos of John Jnr begin gathering momentum on the internet, his father's advisors are forced into damage limitation leaving father and son to try and reach an agreement. Christopher Shinn's potent play examines religion, freedom of expression and personal responsibility. It premiered at London's Royal Court Theatre in September 2008. This new Modern Classics edition features an introduction by Dominic Cooke.

Christopher Shinn (b. 1975) is an American playwright from New York. His plays include Now or Later (shortlisted for the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Play), Dying City (Pulitzer Prize finalist), Where Do We Live (winner of an Obie in Playwriting), An Opening In Time, Teddy Ferrara, Picked, Four, What Didn't Happen, On the Mountain, Other People, and The Coming World. His adaptation of Hedda Gabler premiered on Broadway (American Airlines Theatre), and he has written short plays for Naked Angels (Democracy Project), the 24 Hour Plays on Broadway, the Bush Theatre (Sixty-Six Books), and Headlong (Decade). His work has been premiered by Lincoln Center Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club, Playwrights Horizons, the Vineyard Theatre, South Coast Rep, the Goodman, the Royal Court, and the Soho Theatre, and later produced around the world. Christopher Shinn's awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship in Playwriting, a grant from the NEA/TCG Residency Program, an Obie in Playwriting and the Robert Chesley Award.

Now or Later is as potent as David Mamet's Oleanna in its exposure of how liberal creeds can-one way or another-be murkily tied in with intolerance. Shinn reworks diverse real-life headlines into a gripping dramatic knot. * Independent * Its brilliance lies in the way Shinn marries ideological debate to psychological complexity, shedding light, laser-bright and precise, on the way in which political discourse informs and shapes individual experience. Urgent and unmissable. * Times of London * A complex father-son relationship lies at the heart of Shinn's nuanced and thought-provoking drama about freedom of speech...It's a heady and provocative brew, and it's over too soon. * Boston Globe * The play undeniably keeps you rapt. * Guardian *