Gagarin Way / Gregory Burke → Обява 23983837

Gagarin Way / Gregory Burke

GREGORY BURKE

Gregory Burke was
born in Dunfermline in 1968. After school and having dropped out of
Stirling University he fulfilled a variety of vital roles in the minimum
wage economy. GAGARIN WAY is his first play.

PREFACE

I
wanted to write something about the Twentieth Century. That's usually
how I begin an explanation of what I wanted to achieve when writing this
play. It's not very helpful I know, but when I wrote the play it was
the only century I had managed to live in. (Obviously, now, I feel like a
weight has come off.) I also wanted to write a play about economics, it
being the dominant (only?) theme in modern politics, and the source of
real power in our increasingly globalised times. And finally, I wanted
to write about men and our infinite capacity for self-delusion. So I
wrote GAGARIN WAY.

The play is named after a street in the
village of Lumphinnans in west Fife which was a hotbed of communism. As
part of the Fife coalfield, its existence, and that of the towns and
villages which surround it, was due solely to its proximity to coal. I
moved to west Fife in 1 984 and The Miners' Strike was in full flow.
Fife was, of course, a very staunch and committed region during the
dispute, even though everyone, including the miners, knew that they
were, eventually, going to be beaten. (Coal was cheaper in Poland after
all.) However inevitable defeat was not something that was ever going to
break the strike and the vast majority of miners and their families
endured to the bitter end. The mines closed, the ex-miners were
swallowed up by the electronics factories and service industries which
followed (attracted by government subsidy to areas of high unemployment)
as were the dockyard workers at Rosyth, when the defence industries
were decimated when the West celebrated the end of the Cold War. (Russia
couldn't afford the arms race.) Economics decides the fate of people,
not their politicians. Governments are powerless when up against a
multi-national, the vagaries of the stock market and history. But the
people remain. That's the constant. We remain and we find other things
to keep ourselves amused.

I wanted to write something about the
twentieth, century and I wanted to write something about economics and I
wanted to write about men and it turned into Gagarin Way. A comedy. I
didn't expect it to be a comedy but when you consider the themes which
emerged while I wrote it - Marxist and Hegelian theories of history,
anarchism, psychopathology, existentialism, mental illness, political
terrorism, nihilism, globalisation and the crisis in masculinity - then
it couldn't really be anything else.

Gregory Burke June 2001

*****

BIOGRAPHIES

Terry
King (fight director): Work for the Royal Notional Theatre: FOOL FOR
LOVE, THE MURDERERS (Peter Gill), KING LEAR, THE SEA, OTHELLO, THE
BIRTHDAY PARTY (Sam Mendes),

CAROUSEL, THE CRIPPLE Of INISHMAN
(Nick Hytner), THE RIOT (Mike Shepard), CHIPS WITH EVERYTHING, BATTLE
ROYAL (Howard Davies), LONDON CUCKOLDS [Terry Johnson), WAITING FOR
GODOT, TING TANG MINE (Michael Rudman), THREE MEN ON A HORSE, JOCOBOWSKI
AND THE COLONEL IJonothon Lynne), THE HOMECOMING (Roger Michelle). For
the RSC: TROILUS AND CRESSIDA, RICHARD III (Sam Mendes), ROMEO AND
JULIET, CYMBELINE (Adrian Noble), PERICLES, JULIUS CEASAR, CORIOLANUS
(David Thacker), HENRY V, HAMLET (Matthew Warchus), A PATRIOT FOR ME
(Peter Gill), THE WHITE DEVIL (Gael Edwards), COMEDY OF ERRORS, TWELFTH
NIGHT (Ian Judge), OTHELLO, HENRY IV PARTS 1 & 2 (Michael
Attenborough), BITE OF THE NIGHT (Danny Boyle), SINGER [Terry Hands), A
MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM,

THE BROKEN HEART, ROMEO AND JULIET
(Michael Boyd), AS YOU LIKE IT, MACBETH (Greg Doran). For the Royal
Court: OUR COUNTRY'S GOOD, THE RECRUITING OFFICER, THE QUEEN AND I, KING
LEAR (Max Stafford Clark), SORE THROATS (Nancy Duguid), SEARCH AND
DESTROY (Stephen Daldry), ASHES AND SAND [Ian Rickson), OLEANNA (Harold
Pinter), BERLIN BERTIE (Danny Boyle), OURSELVES ALONE, GREENLAND (Simon
Curtis). Other theatre includes: THE FIFTEEN STREETS (Coventry/West
End), PETER PAN (Leeds); TRUE WEST, FOOL FOR LOVE (Donmar); FENCES
(Liverpool/West End); LYSISTRATA (Old Vic); BLUE REMEMBERED HILLS
(Bristol); OF MICE AND MEN (Nottingham). Opera and musicals include:
PORGY AND BESS [Trevor Nunn); OTELLO (Peter Stein); CARMEN (David
Pountney); MARTIN GUERRE (Decían Donnellan); JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR
(Gael Edwards); OLIVER (Sam Mendes); SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER (Arlene
Philips); SPEND SPEND SPEND (Jeremy Sams); WEST SIDE STORY [West End);
LAUTREC (Rob Bettinson). Work for television includes: THE BIU,
CASUALTY, EASTENDERS, BROKEN GLASS, A KIND OF INNOCENCE, FELL TIGER,
SCOLDS BRIDAL, FATAL INVERSION, NERYS GLAS, DEATH OF A SALESMAN, THE
WIDOWING OF MRS HOLYROYD, MEASURE FOR MEASURE, THE MAYOR OF
CASTERBRIDGE, LUCKY JIM, BLUE DOVE.

Billy McElhaney (Gary):
Theatre Work includes: PASSING PLACES (Greenwich/Derby Playhouse); THE
MEMORY OF WATER (Southampton Nuffield/Guildford); CALEDONIA DREAMING,
REVOLTING PEASANTS (7:84); YOU'LL HAVE HAD YOUR HOLE (West Yorkshire
Playhouse); ALADIN [His Majesty's), WE ARE THE HIBEES (Brunton/Gallus);
TRUMPETS AND RASPBERRIES (Borderline); VIRTUAL REALITY (Montgomery
Media); CITY LIGHTS TOUR (City lights Touring); ANNUS HORRIBILUS
(Wildcat); A MIDSUMMER NIGHTS DREAM, THE BEVELLERS, MACBETH (Royal
Lyceum) Television work includes: THE YOUNG PERSON'S GUIDE TO BECOMING A
ROCK STAR, THIS YEAR'S LOVE, LOOKING AFTER JOJO; THE ACID HOUSE; RAB С
NESBITT,

THE WINTER GUEST, THE BALDY MAN, ATHLETICO PARTICK,
STAR, BAD BOYS, RUFFIAN HEARTS, PARAHANDY, TAGGART, BLOOD RED ROSES,
SHOOT FOR THE SUN, A SHADOW ON EARTH, BROND. Film work includes: COMFORT
AND JOY, HEAVENLY PURSUITS, SILENT SCREAM, ROB ROY.

Michael
Moreland [Tom): Trained: RSAMD. Theatre Work includes: STROMA (TAG);
PASSING PLACES (Greenwich/Derby Playhouse); JUNK (Oxford Stage
Company/Manchester library Theatre); THE COUNTRY WIFE (Bridewell); THE
SEAL WIFE (Attic); WOOF! (Birmingham Stage); MACBETH (Chester Gateway).
Television work includes: A TOUCH OF FROST, THE BILL, MAGIC WITH
EVERYTHING, THIS LIFE. Film work includes: THE TRENCH, A TIME TO LOVE.

Michael
Nardone (Eddie): Trained: Queen Margaret College, Edinburgh. For the
Traverse: EUROPE, MARISOL, BUCHANAN, THE COLLECTION, WIDOWS, THE
SPECULATOR (a coproduction with the Edinburgh International Festival),
KNIVES IN HENS (also at the Bush). Other Theatre: WILDMAN, SHINDA THE
MAGIC APE, THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO, MERLIN (parts 1 & 2) and
MIRANDOLINA for the Royal Lyceum; SPLATTER for 7:84; BOUNCERS, CAIN AND
ABEL for Chester Gateway; ELIDOR and TOM SAWYER for Contact Theatre,
Manchester; THE LEGEND

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