"Nation" crosses borders -- seeing a world premiere in Peterborough
I just witnessed a world premiere on the London National Theatre stage... in Peterborough... New Hampshire.
"Nation," based on a novel by Terry Pratchett and adapted by Mark Ravenhill, was projected onto the Peterborough Players new 10' x 16' screen and broadcast live from London. Unfortunately, the premiere was screened before only about a dozen of us.
It is an exciting time to have access to the Peterborough Players. The theatre, which has always housed extremely high quality live performances, is now a place in the off season where someone could go to see a world class opera from The Met or a world premiere from the London National. Next week, on February 4 at 8 p.m., it will show a live broadcast of the popular radio show "Prairie Home Companion." People in the Monadnock region have unprecedented access to truly coveted performances.
Because I can't resist being one of the first to blog about "Nation," I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. While the play started slow, and I never quite got used to the camera angles, the themes within it were thought provoking and satisfyingly explored. In an alternate 1860, a huge tsunami simultaneously wipes out a South Pacific island nation and sinks a ship en route from London. Mau, the last survivor of the island people, and Daphne, one of the only survivors of the ship, are both teenagers who can't communicate at first. Eventually, they both come to adore things about the others culture. It turns out that others have survived, too, some with pure intentions, and some without.
The plot itself sounds a bit over done, which was my first reaction, but it was the way that the play explored death and culture that intrigued me. Mau nearly drowns, and Daphne visits the spirit world to save him from the spirit of death. While there in the spirit world, the pair are able to see other worlds, other versions of reality that could have been. They come back from the spirit world, but later in the play Mau visits alone, given the option to return after doing a heroic deed. Seeing these alternate realities struck me as interesting, because at the same time, Mau and Daphne live in such different worlds, different cultures. Life and death themselves seemed almost alternate cultures, too.
But the real point of this entry is this: GO TO THE PLAYERS! Check out their HD projector and huge screen. It is no substitute for their fine plays, but it is a way to see big city shows without leaving the Monadnock region.
Coming up:
Feb. 4 -- Prarie Home Companion
Feb. 6 -- Met Opera "Simon Boccanegra," starring Placido Domingo
Feb. 9 -- Encore of Prarie Home Companion
