Every Good Boy Deserves Favour
by Tom Stoppard and André Previn National Theater of Poland - Following a sell-out run in 2009, the National's electrifying production returns for a strictly limited run in January 2010.
Dates
9 January - 17 February
41 performances only
Cast credits:
Doctor, Jonathan Aris
Ivanov, Julian Bleach
Teacher, Pandora Colin
Sacha, Shea Davis
Sacha, Wesley Nelson
Colonel, Peter Pacey
Alexander, Adrian Schiller
Production credits:
Orchestra, Southbank Sinfonia
Directors, Felix Barrett and Tom Morris
Conductor, Simon Over
Designer, Bob Crowley
Lighting Designer, Bruno Poet
Choreographer, Maxine Doyle
Sound Designer, Christopher Shutt
Plot
The play concerns a dissident, Alexander Ivanov, who is imprisoned in a Soviet mental hospital, from which he will not be released until he admits that his statements against the government were caused by a (non-existent) mental disorder.
In the hospital he shares a cell with a genuinely disturbed schizophrenic, also called Ivanov, who believes himself to have a symphony orchestra under his command. Alexander receives visits from the Doctor and from a Colonel in the KGB.
Meanwhile, his son, Sacha, is seen in a school classroom with a teacher who attempts to convince him of the genuineness of his father's illness.