About 

Please join us for a season of 3 plays from our BA Performer Training based in Wigan, taking place at 53Two, Arch 19 Watson St, Manchester.

 

Programme 

 

 

Paradise

by Kae Tempest

Adapted from Sophocles’ tragedy ‘Philoctetes’, Paradise takes place on an island that has been ravaged by civil war. It has now become a dumping ground for prisoners and unrecyclable waste for the rest of the world.

Philoctetes has been stranded on the island for a decade, abandoned by his former friend Odysseus. Neoptolemus, Achilles’ son and young soldier, has been sent to retrieve Philoctetes who it has been prophesied will end the stalemate Trojan War. Philoctetes is now offered the promise of escape unlike the women he has lived amongst on the island who are victims of the wars never ending reach. They have made a community on the island unlike Philoctetes whose hope of leaving becomes shrouded in suspicion. The temptation of revenge towards an old friend becomes his strongest calling.

This contemporary retelling with an all-female cast is a powerful tale of conflict and bleakness, and of the hope that harmony may one day again prevail. Tempest’s show draws parallels between an Ancient Greek myth and contemporary conflict; the cyclical nature of war and its victims.

Rights provided by David Higham Associates.

 

7.30pm, Thursday 23 October

7.30pm, Friday 24 October

2pm Saturday 25 October

7.30pm Saturday 25 October

 

Run time: Approximately 2hrs 20 mins (including a 20 minute interval)

Content warning: depictions of violence, derogatory language, references to sexual violence and state abuse.

 

Ticketing

Tickets are now on sale. Please book directly via the venue here.

Please note that as tickets are managed externally, ticketing policies apply which include no refunds. Please find more information via ticketsource.co.uk

 

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Contact us

For queries about events, access, tickets or regarding our students, please email [email protected]