| Description |
1 online resource |
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Compliant with Level AA of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Content is displayed as HTML full text which can easily be resized or read with assistive technology, with mark-up that allows screen readers and keyboard-only users to navigate easily. |
| Physical Medium |
polychrome |
| Description |
text file |
| Note |
"NHB Modern Plays." |
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Acts: 2. Roles: Male (5) , Female (3) , Neutral (1). |
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Theme: Sexual abuse; Society; Suffering; Crime. Genre: Naturalistic/realistic drama; American drama. Period: Contemporary. Place: United States of America. |
| Summary |
Bruce Norris's play Downstate is a drama about a group of men convicted of sex crimes against minors, exploring the limits of our compassion and what happens when society deems anyone beyond forgiveness. It was co-commissioned by Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Chicago, and the National Theatre, London, and was premiered on 30 September 2018 at Steppenwolf's Upstairs Theatre, Chicago; it opened in the Dorfman auditorium of the National Theatre, London, on 20 March 2019. The play is set in a group home for sex offenders in downstate Illinois, in the present day. Four men convicted of sex crimes against minors live here in the shadow of their offences: Fred, in his seventies, now confined to a motorized wheelchair, who is confronted at the start of the play by one of his victims, Andy (now late thirties-forties); Dee, who shows little remorse for a long-term relationship he had with one of the younger performers in a touring production of Peter Pan; the voluble Gio, guilty of an offence with a teenage girl; and Felix, a Latino, whose crimes involved his own daughter. The traumatised Andy has come with his wife Em in an apparent attempt to seek closure with Fred, but when he returns alone in Act Two, it soon becomes clear that retribution is also on his mind. The premiere production was directed by Pam MacKinnon with a set designed by Todd Rosenthal. It was performed by Glenn Davis, K. Todd Freeman, Francis Guinan, Tim Hopper, Cecilia Noble, Eddie Torres, Aimee Lou Wood and Matilda Ziegler, with additional performances as the Cops (in Chicago) by Elyakeem Avraham, Maura Kidwell and Nate Whelden, and (in London) by Mark Extance, Brinsley Terence and Shelley Williams. |
| Local Note |
Bloomsbury Drama Online Nick Hern Books Modern Plays - Annual Update 2020 |
| Subject |
Criminals -- Illinois -- Drama.
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Criminals. |
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Illinois. |
| Genre/Form |
Drama.
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| Subject |
Sex crimes -- Drama.
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Sex crimes. |
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Illinois -- Social life and customs -- Drama.
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Manners and customs. |
| Genre/Form |
Drama.
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| Subject |
Sexual violence. |
| Genre/Form |
Academic theses.
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Academic theses.
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| ISBN |
9781848428195 (print) |
| Standard No. |
10.5040/9781784605537.00000002 |
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e784605537002 |
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