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Please view the Winter Newsletter in all its glory on our website:
http://www.synapseproductions.org/newsevents/winter05_newsletter.html
Thank you!
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  a new play byRichard Bean Directed byDavid Travis |
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Greetings from
Tambia, a part-Christian, part-Muslim country where water
is scarce, AK-47s are plentiful, the lions are hungry and the locals
want email! Laura is a young, ambitious American aid worker on her first assignment, ready to bend the rules to save the world. But home starts to feel very far away when the neighbors steal your magazines and your boyfriend dumps you—to return to his three wives… Irreverent and provocative, THE GOD BOTHERERS is a no-holds-barred comic adventure that gleefully skewers our preconceptions about religion, globalization, and the sources of poverty and violence in the developing world. |
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London Critics Raved About
THE GOD BOTHERERS
“THE GOD BOTHERERS is a brutally funny,
hotly topical play about the about the confrontation of western
liberalism and Muslim conviction that suggests neither side has a
monopoly on wisdom.”
– The Guardian
“THE GOD BOTHERERS
is seriously hilarious and hilariously serious.” – The Sunday Times
THE GOD BOTHERERS is one of those
rarities,
a really funny comedy with depth... Never loses its wicked sense of humour... Definitely a show to see." - The British Theatre
Guide |
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MEET THE PLAYWRIGHT: Richard Bean | ||||
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Playwright Richard Bean is
one of Britain's hottest playwrights; in 2003 alone,
his work was seen in London at the Bush Theatre,
the National Theatre and at the Royal Court. Synapse’s production of
THE GOD BOTHERERS marks his American debut.
In November, Synapse Literary
Associate Jenn Worth caught up with Richard at a special reading of
the play at New York's celebrated Public Theater.  |
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JENN WORTH: In the last year, you have
been commissioned to write plays for three of the best “new writing”
theatres in London. How has all of this sudden recognition affected
you? Especially in light of the fact that you didn't start writing
plays until you were forty years old?
RICHARD BEAN In Britain we have
maybe 500 hundred full time playwrights so the idea of fame, or even
recognition is a tad gossamer. It's not very glamourous, I don't
earn any money because I don't write for film or telly. The nicest
thing is to have your work recognized and respected. There's nothing
better than sitting in the auditorium when a play you've written is
working.
...if you want to eat an elephant you've
got to start by taking the first bite.
JW: Before becoming a
playwright, you spent years working with non-governmental
organizations (NGOs). Since THE GOD BOTHERERS
focuses on the crazy experiences of NGO workers in the developing
world, there must be some element of auto-biography in the play,
right? |
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RB: Not strictly. I worked as a
freelance occupational psychologist for ten years working a lot for
Amnesty International, but the main source for THE GOD
BOTHERERS is me sitting in pubs listening to my mates'
stories when they came back from assignments abroad.
JW: What is a God
botherer?
RB: A God botherer is someone who believes in God. There's a derogatory meaning to it, so it means someone who shoves their faith down your throat. JW: OK, so, what do they have to
do with your play?
What God botherers don't ever understand is that
they are part of the problem. Until we get to a point where ordinary
believers fully understand that their religions are constructs, ways
of living, made up cultures based on the bits of oral history that
suit their lifestyles, then we are always going to have God
botherers interfering with government, education, science and all
the other areas where Reason should be king. We are in danger, very
real danger, of entering a new Dark Age where the empirical is
derided and blind faith rules...
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©2005 Synapse Productions. All Rights Reserved. |