THEBES LAND
By Sergio Blanco
Tangram Theatre / CASA / Arcola co-production, Arcola Theatre.
Performed in English, translated from Spanish
Frequently sublimely funny… boasts blistering performances in a beautifully calibrated production by Daniel Goldman.
Lyn Gardner – The Guardian
Thebes Land is an ingenious two-hander presented here in a fizzing, idiomatic translation.
Henry Hitchings – Evening Standard
What a sharp, satisfying watch this is – Thebes Land runs rings around its audience.
Matt Trueman – What’s on Stage
This morbidly fascinating, delectably sophisticated two-hander is a rare treat.
Fergus Morgan – The Stage
Exhilarating, moving, and slick, the piece outgrows its theatrical space and defines it.
Brendan Macdonald – Exeunt
Thebes Land is an utterly thrilling piece of theatre. There isn’t a spare moment wasted. This is what all theatre should feel like – challenging, provocative, and crisply executed.
London Theatre 1
Thebes Land is an utterly thrilling piece of theatre. There isn’t a spare moment wasted. This is what all theatre should feel like – challenging, provocative, and crisply executed.
London Theatre 1
Off West End Awards:
Winner – Best Production
Nominations – Best Director, Best Set Design, Best New
Thebes Land is an utterly thrilling piece of theatre. There isn’t a spare moment wasted. This is what all theatre should feel like – challenging, provocative, and crisply executed.
London Theatre 1
Mesmerising. BritishTheatre.com
Brilliant. The Upcoming
Absolutely superb. The Spy in the Stalls
Brilliantly directed. Morning Start
Thebes Land is an utterly thrilling piece of theatre. There isn’t a spare moment wasted. This is what all theatre should feel like – challenging, provocative, and crisply executed.
London Theatre 1
T, a playwright, is commissioned to write a play and chooses patricide as his theme. In order to ground his play in reality, he decides to base his play on the incredible true story of Martin Santos, a young man serving a life sentence for killing his father. Spending his days alternately interviewing Martin in prison and rehearsing with Freddie, a young actor he has cast as Martin, T slowly begins to peel the layers and come to understand why Martin did what he did. But there’s a cost to this new understanding. As their interviews progress and opening night approaches, both of their worlds begin to unravel.
Cast
Alex Austin (Martin/Freddie), Trevor White (T)
Creative Team
Daniel Goldman (Director, Translator, Rob Cavazos (Literal Translation), Mariana Aritstizàbal Pardo (Assistant Director- Revival), Gemma Aked-Priestley (Assistant Director), Jemima Robinson (Design), Malena Arcucci (Assistant Designer), Elena Peña (Sound Design)
In 2014, while attending a festival in Manizales, Colombia, as a programmer for CASA, I was invited to go and watch a play called Tebas Land by Sergio Blanco, a Uruguayan playwright I’d never heard of. I’ll never forget the feeling as I sat in the auditorium watching his play. I couldn’t believe how good it was… and I kept on looking around to check if everyone realised that we were witnesses to a sort of genius.
Two years later, I asked Sergio if I could translate the play and direct it at the Arcola. The result was one of the most enjoyable and special experiences of my artistic life. Everything seemed to go right; we managed to cast two brilliant actors with incredible chemistry; the rehearsal process was a delight from beginning to end with Cassie and Mariana and Malena all contributing; it was my first collaboration with Jemima and Richard who worked wonders etc. And the wonderful thing was that the brilliant process really did lead to a brilliant show, which received rave reviews, sold out and returned for a further 5 weeks the following year.
Since then, Sergio and I have worked on a number of other plays, including The Rage of Narcissus, and upcoming projects The Bellow of Dusseldorf and Divine Invention, and Sergio has become the world’s most performed and preeminent playwright in the Spanish language, and a great friend.
All photos © Ali Wright