My Country; a work in progress

prepared by Carol Ann Duffy

seen at the National Theatre (Dorfman) on 1 March 2017

Rufus Norris directs Penny Layden (Britannia), Stuart McQuarrie (Caledonia), Adam Ewan (South-West), Christian Patterson (Cymru), Seema Bowri (East Midlands), Cavan Clarke (Northern Ireland) and Laura Elphinstone (North-East) in a play comprising verbatim interviews with dozens of people in the various regions of the UK (pointedly excluding London and the South-East, apart from some politicians' statements spoken by Britannia) in relation to the Brexit referendum, with framing and connecting pieces by the Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy.

The play opens with Britannia calling the regions together for a meeting "as she always does" at critical moments of history - some previous occasions are referred to, going back to the fourteenth century. As the representatives of six regions arrive they bustle and chatter, the tensions between them veering between relaxed chaffing and more serious confrontation; Britannia is like a convener somewhat weary of the bickering. 

Everyman

a new adaptation by Carol Ann Duffy

seen at the National Theatre (Olivier) on 27 April 2015

The late-mediaeval morality play has been adapted and expanded by the current Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy. It is directed by Rufus Norris, the new Artistic Director of the National Theatre, and stars Chiwetel Ejiofor as Everyman, Kate Duchêne as God (and Good Deeds), Dermot Crowley as Death and Penny Layden as Knowledge.

The play opens with Everyman falling slowly from the fly gallery of the Olivier theatre into a pit created in the drum revolve - curiously, the reverse of the poignant conclusion of the opera 'Between Worlds' which I saw a couple of days previously. The two pieces both deal with the unexpected but inevitable confrontation with death, but in 'Everyman' the emphasis is on a personal 'reckoning' with God, which in turn requires a searching self-reckoning as Everyman, totally unprepared, confronts his maker.