Harrogate - (Modern Plays) by Al Smith (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

There's gossip going around that we're all like him. That we're all paper thin, that it's all been painted over, and each one of us is gonna sit down one day and not be able to stand up, like we've disappeared to ourselves.

Harrogate tells the story of a father struggling to confront his obsessions head-on without destroying his family. It is a play about how we perform versions of ourselves depending on what company we keep, and how we project onto others versions of the people we want to see, rather than accepting who stands in front of us.

The play is a triptych about obsession, repression and lust. It received its world premiere on the 11 September 2015 as part of the HighTide Theatre Festival.

Review Quotes

"Harrogate plays games with its audience, setting up and then confounding our expectations. . . . Smith's writing is punchy, sometimes bruising" --Financial Times

About the Author

Al Smith's theatre includes Enola (Underbelly, 2005), Radio (Soho / 59E59 NYC, 2006/7), The Astronaut Wives Club (Soho, 2006), The Bird (Underbelly / Arcola, 2008), Gold & Popcorn and Black & White (NYTRep, 2012). He has been Pearson Playwright in Residence at the Finborough Theatre and a participant of the Paines Plough Future Perfect scheme. He has recently finished a new play, The Anthropophaga, for Headlong / Old Red Lion and his play Harrogate will be premiered at HighTide Theatre Festival in September 2015.