BLACKBIRD

by
DAVID HARROWER
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CONTENTS
TOPIC PAGE
Biography...........................................................2
Meaning of Harrower's plays............................3 - 4
Blackbird...........................................................5 - 6
Personal opinion.................................................7
Bibliography........................................................8
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BIOGRAPHY
Playwright David Harrower was born in Edinburgh in 1966. His first play, Knives
in Hens (1997), was first produced at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, in 1995.
He is also the author of the plays Kill the Old Torture Their Young (1998), and
The Chrysalids (1999), adapted from John Wyndham's novel, for the National
Theatre's Connections project. Presence (2001), his third original play, was first
performed at the Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Upstairs in April 2001.
David Harrower has also adapted versions of Pirandello's Six Characters in
Search of an Author (Six Characters Looking for an Author (2000)), first staged
at the Young Vic in 2000; Chekhov's Ivanov (2002), performed at the National
Theatre in autumn 2002; and Buchner's Woyzeck, performed at the Edinburgh
Lyceum in 2002. He has also translated The Girl on the Sofa (2002), a new play
by Jon Fosse, presented in a joint production by the Edinburgh International
Festival and the Schaubuhne, Berlin.
His play, Dark Earth (2003), premiered at the Traverse in August 2003. He has
also recently written a new version of Odon von Horvath's Tales from the
Vienna Woods (2003) for the National Theatre, London, which opened in
October 2003. His latest plays are an adaptation of Schiller's Mary Stuart (2006)
and a new translation of Brecht's The Good Soul of Szechuan (2008).
David Harrower lives in Glasgow.
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MEANING OF DAVID HARROWER'S
PLAYS
Harrower does not have a fix kind of topic for his playwrights. Depending on the
one we read, we will see a woman in a rural ambient trying to find out what she
wants for life, a drama of a man and a woman arguing about their relationship in
the past (as in Orpheus Road). We can also find in Kill the Old Torture Their
Young (Traverse, 1998) which follows a disparate group of characters across
an unnamed city, mixing realism with poetry and fantasy. And in Presence
(2001), he takes another look at the Beatles' legendary residence at the Star
Club in Hamburg on the eve of their success. To finish giving examples of
Harrower's different topics I will write about Dark Earth (2003) that begins as a
broad comedy and turns into a speculation about the meaning of history and
land.
His most recent work is 365, presented at the Edinburgh International Festival
in 2008, directed by Vicky Featherstone. This recount the stories of 14 young
people who have been in care are now living on their own in practice flats. It
was subsequently performed in London at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith.

Bibliography
Knives in Hens Methuen, 1997
Kill the Old Torture their Young Methuen, 1998
Presence Faber and Faber, 2001
Six Characters Looking for an Author/Luigi Pirandello (a new version) Methuen,
2001
The Chrysalids (adaptation) Faber and Faber, 2001
Ivanov (a new version) Oberon, 2002
Purple (Jon Fosse) Faber and Faber/NT Connections, 2002
The Girl on the Sofa (Jon Fosse) Oberon, 2002
Dark Earth Faber and Faber, 2003
Tales from the Vienna Woods (a new version) Faber and Faber, 2003
Blackbird Faber and Faber, 2005
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Mary Stuart/Schiller (adaptation) Faber and Faber, 2006
The Good Soul of Szechuan/Brecht (translator) Methuen, 2008
Prizes and awards
1998 Theater Heute Best Foreign Play (Critics Award) Knives and Hens
1999 Meyer-Whitworth Award Kill the Old Torture Their Young
1999 Pearson Award Kill the Old Torture Their Young
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SUMMARY
Una is in Ray's studio, she has made a long way to talk to him. They have an
argument about if he left her in a non-appropriate way after what seems to be a
sentimental relationship. Later on we discover that Ray's name in the past was
Peter, and when he was 40, he seduced Una that was 12.
They went to Tynemouth, to go on a trip so as to be able to be together, when
they got to a hostel near the sea, they made love, then Ray went away to buy
some cigarettes, but he did not come back. Una went to look for him but she got
lost and when she was found by two old men, Ray was accused of pederast
and he went to jail.
She tells him all the tragedies she has had to stand, and when she finishes
telling them to him, he says that he never left her nor took profit of her, and tells
her his version of the facts. Finally they kiss, but they hear a little girl entering
the room calling Ray (his girlfriend's daughter) they tell the girl to go down to the
car with her mother who is waiting for him. Una thinks that he has lied her
again, but he convinces her of the opposite. Finally Ray goes away and leaves
Una shouting at him so that he does not go away, but he leaves her again
anyway.
CHARACTERS
a) Nuclear characters:
Una: She is a girl who has suffered a lot since she met Ray. She was
being cheated by him when she was only twelve years old, and she really
fell in love with him. She is naive because Ray not just lied to her when
she was twelve,but also the day she goes to talk to him. Because of
the way she talks, we can guess that she has got some kind of complex
since Ray left her. It seems that she is still in love with him.
Ray: He is a pederast. Even if the story he tells to Una was true, he
should have been more responsible and not have taken her anywhere.
For this reason we can say that he is irresponsible. He is ashamed for
what he did to her. His job must be something like a manager, because
he works at an office.
b) Brief character:
Little girl.
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SET OR ATMOSPHERE
All the play takes place in Ray's studio, where Una goes to talk to him. They are
alone most of the time, but as Ray works for a company with more workers he
is worried because someone can hear them talking about what happened in the
past.
INTERNAL ESTRUCTURE
a) Part one: Una appears in the room and begins to talk to Ray telling
him what she has had to stand since he left her.
b) Part two: Ray tells Una what happened in Tynemouth. He also tells
Una that he really loved her.
c) Part three: Una forgives Ray and they kiss, then the little girl enters the
room and goes away with her mother. Una asks Ray not to go but he
goes away leaving her alone.
CONCLUSION
We cannot have a clear conclusion of this play, because we can think that Ray
is a pederast or not.
We could think it because when the little girl appears, she makes us think about
the possibility that Ray is with his girlfriend because he wants to take profit of
her little daughter. We can think this because when the girl enters she cuddles
Ray and insists on staying with him instead of going with her mother. And the
fact that he kisses Una having a girlfriend rests credibility to what he says. We
could also think that he was really in love with Una and he just tried to go to live
with her because he loved her.
Whereas we do not know for sure why Una went to talk with Ray, maybe to
accuse him, to humiliate him, to rekindle the relationship or to attack him. We do
not know it because at the end of the play she forgives him and even asks him
to stay, but while they are talking in some scenes she talk to him very hardly
and with an anger like coming from her deep inside.
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PERSONAL OPINION
I have liked it because it is a playwright easy to read. Its vocabulary is perfectly
comprehensive and it is also entertaining because until the end we do not know
what is going to happen. In fact I did not expect that end because Una was
supposed to be there to hurt Ray in a psychological way or at least to humiliate
him, as he took profit of her when she was young.
I understand that Una was angry with him and that in a certain period of time,
she wanted to kill him. But what I do not understand is why she went to see or
talk to him. She should have stayed away of him and tried to re-make her life in
another city so that, people in there did not point at her.
Personally I think that Ray is with his girlfriend because he wants to take profit
of her little girl more easily.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth02C20O282512626987
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Harrower
http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/in-david-harrowers-blackbird-its-
complicated/Content?oid=1165696
http://www.knivesinhens.com/davidharrower.htm
Encyclopaedia Britannica
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