Over There

Description

A programme text edition published to coincide with the world premiere at the Royal Court Theatre, London, on 25 February 2009 "I found you. You're here. And I was over there. But now I'm over here. I'm here. You're my brother. I love you" When Franz's mother escaped to the West with one of her identical twin boys, she left the other behind. Now, 25 years later, Karl crosses the border in search of his other half. As history takes an unexpected turn, the brothers must struggle to reconnect. Mark Ravenhill's visceral new play examines the hungers released when two countries, separated by a common language, meet again.

Mark Ravenhill 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, and most recently Shoot/Get Treasure/Repeat (National Theatre, Royal Court, Paines Plough, The Gate Theatre, April 2008).

'[Ravenhill] opts for dreamy expressionism, touches of Absurd Theatre and an allegoric preface and epilogue set in the Californian heart of capitalism.' * Nicholas de Jongh, Evening Standard, 9.3.09 * 'Ravenhill explores postwar Germany's division and unification through the power battles between twin brothers. The result is fantastically clever and ingenious... Ravenhill's premise is both witty and plausible.' * Michael Billington, Guardian, 9.3.09 * 'Mark Ravenhill's Over There... is based on a brilliant idea: to tell the story of the tension between East and West before and after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 by personalising both halves of the country as a pair of identical twins.' * Aleks Sierz, Tribune, 13.3.09 * 'It almost amounts to a Lehrstuck, but without any condescension or priggishness in its didacticism....I loved it' * Ian Shuttleworth, Financial Times, 10.3.09 * a 'fierce little play' * Siobhan Murphy, Metro (London), 10.3.09 *