There is a War
- Full Length Play, Drama, Comedy, Contemporary
- 9M, 5F
- ISBN: 9781848422209
A miniature epic that explores the mad savagery of war with biting black comedy, and takes us into the dark heart of a strange and surreal conflict.
More information
Description
- Full Length Play
- Drama, Comedy
- Time Period: Contemporary
- Target Audience: Young Adult, Adult
- Set Requirements: Unit Set/Multiple Settings
- Performance Group:
- College Theatre / Student, Blackbox / Second Stage /Fringe Groups
A miniature epic that explores the mad savagery of war with biting black comedy, and takes us into the dark heart of a strange and surreal conflict.
As soldiers, priests and scavengers roam a battle-scorched landscape, a young medical officer finds herself abandoned and useless, unable to locate the hospital or even the war she was promised.
Tom Basden's short play There is a War was first performed in a double bill with Prasanna Puwanarajah's Nightwatchman as part of the National Theatre's Double Feature season of paired short plays at the Paintframe, a specially converted space at the National Theatre, London, in July 2011.
There is a War and Nightwatchman are available together in the volume Double Feature: Two.
REVIEWS:
"Surreal comic fizz... Brechtian epic rewritten with droll bite."
Independent
"A sharp satire with an irresistibly silly strain... zany humour and inspired wordplay."
Financial Times
"Surreally humorous, and perceptive about the mindlessness of conflict."
Evening Standard
Premiere Production:
National Theatre, London, 2011.
Characters
- Casting: 9M, 5F
- Casting Attributes: Expandable casting
