Angela

Description

Mark Ravenhill's autobiographical radio play explores the way culture, high and low, impacted both his mother's and his family's lives. Starting an adult ballet class as the only male in the group sparks a memory of life through the eyes of Ravenhill, the playwright. As time intertwines through alternating perspectives we see his family at different stages of their life. From childhood dreams of being a dancer and performer through to the creativity that brings his parents together for the first time and into their old age, this is a deeply personal and resonate drama about the intersects of life and culture. Commissioned by Sound Stage, a new immersive audio theatre, designed by theatre-makers and leading technologists, giving audiences a unique and engrossing online theatre experience of new plays from the best in British theatre.

Mark Ravenhill is one of the most distinctive contemporary UK playwrights. He burst on to the theatre scene in 1996 with the huge hit Shopping and Fucking. He has continued to garner critical acclaim for plays that include Some Explicit Polaroids, Mother Clap's Molly House, Shoot/Get Treasure/Repeat, The Cut, Product, pool (no water), Citizenship, Ten Plagues, The Coronation of Poppea, Candide, Faust is Dead, Handbag, A Life in Three Acts, A Life of Galileo and Over There.

This is ultimately a story of hope and of being whatever you want to be...Ravenhill's Angela constitutes a wonderful addition to this writer's canon and offers astute insight into a condition about which we still know so little. * Broadway World * a lovely piece of writing, subtle and delicate, full of unexpected beats and quiet encounters. * WhatsOnStage * There are tender and moving moments here as well as violent ones; there's loving as well as fear * Arts Desk * Rather than showing us the effects of Angela's dementia on himself and his father, Ted, the playwright gives primacy to her inner voice and confusions, building a rich subjectivity despite the accompanying sadness. * Guardian *