Redundant (play)
Encyclopedia
Redundant by Leo Butler
premiered at the Royal Court Theatre
in 2001 starring Lyndsey Marshal
and directed by Dominic Cooke
.
Set in seventeen year old Lucy's Sheffield council flat, the play follows a year in the promiscuous teenager's life as she makes one disastrous choice after another. It is a dark, often humorous, examination of social poverty. In the introduction in his collected volume of plays, Butler writes of his central character Though she is a victim of poverty - in particular, poverty of imagination and of opportunity - Lucy is never a victim in her own home. She never gives up, and both her dreams, however delusional, and her tough, oppositional spirit remain unspoiled even by the end of the play.
It contained the first ever reference in theatre to Osama bin Laden
where a character said that the whole country needed to be bombed by him to teach us all what suffering was. The play premiered at Royal Court one day after the attacks on the World Trade Centre on the 12th September 2001 receiving gasps from the audience. It was a critical and commercial flop even though it has been more recently recognised as a greater play than was originally thought.
The production is well known for its use of the downstairs stage at Royal court where the overhead arch had been lowered throughout the play until the final scene where it was raised as Lucy sat on the bed making her appear smaller and smaller and more and more redundant to the action.
Lyndsey Marshal
won the Critics Circle Award for Best Newcomer for her performance in the play.
There were positive reviews, however, such as The Stage
which said;
The Evening Standard
also wrote in its review that Butler boldly creates a psychologically complex female lead, surrounding her with unjudged dead-beats, each distinctively vocalising caustic Sheffield vernacular. He also looks to be a master of stage craft, subtly manipulating his audience and characters with dramatic reversals, before arriving at an ending that is inevitable, surprising and loaded with pity and fear.
There are also a selection of reviews are available on the royal court theatre website Reviews of Redundant from Royal Court Theatre archive
Leo Butler
Leo Butler is a British playwright. He graduated from the Royal Court's young writers' scheme. He is active since 2000, when he was described as one of the "Great British Hopes". His plays have been staged, among others, by the Royal Court Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National...
premiered at the Royal Court Theatre
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre...
in 2001 starring Lyndsey Marshal
Lyndsey Marshal
Lyndsey Marshal is an English actress best known for her performance in The Hours as the recurring character Cleopatra on HBO's Rome, and as Lady Sarah Hill in BBC period drama Garrow's Law.-Biography:...
and directed by Dominic Cooke
Dominic Cooke
Dominic Cooke is an English theatre director and playwright. He won the 2007 Laurence Olivier Award for best director for his revival of The Crucible while working at the RSC...
.
Set in seventeen year old Lucy's Sheffield council flat, the play follows a year in the promiscuous teenager's life as she makes one disastrous choice after another. It is a dark, often humorous, examination of social poverty. In the introduction in his collected volume of plays, Butler writes of his central character Though she is a victim of poverty - in particular, poverty of imagination and of opportunity - Lucy is never a victim in her own home. She never gives up, and both her dreams, however delusional, and her tough, oppositional spirit remain unspoiled even by the end of the play.
It contained the first ever reference in theatre to Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
where a character said that the whole country needed to be bombed by him to teach us all what suffering was. The play premiered at Royal Court one day after the attacks on the World Trade Centre on the 12th September 2001 receiving gasps from the audience. It was a critical and commercial flop even though it has been more recently recognised as a greater play than was originally thought.
The production is well known for its use of the downstairs stage at Royal court where the overhead arch had been lowered throughout the play until the final scene where it was raised as Lucy sat on the bed making her appear smaller and smaller and more and more redundant to the action.
Lyndsey Marshal
Lyndsey Marshal
Lyndsey Marshal is an English actress best known for her performance in The Hours as the recurring character Cleopatra on HBO's Rome, and as Lady Sarah Hill in BBC period drama Garrow's Law.-Biography:...
won the Critics Circle Award for Best Newcomer for her performance in the play.
Reviews
The play divided critics but partial blame for that has been laid on the bin Laden reference which many thought had been inserted simply to shock even though it had been there before the September 11 attacks.There were positive reviews, however, such as The Stage
The Stage
The Stage is a weekly British newspaper founded in 1880, available nationally and published on Thursdays. Covering all areas of the entertainment industry but focused primarily on theatre, it contains news, reviews, opinion, features and other items of interest, mainly to those who work within the...
which said;
written with gobsmacking psychological realism...Butler's text is full of evasions, projections and concealed aggression...this scorching drama is raw, raucous and disturbing, with a final stage picture of almost intolerable bleakness The Stage
The Evening Standard
Evening Standard
The Evening Standard, now styled the London Evening Standard, is a free local daily newspaper, published Monday–Friday in tabloid format in London. It is the dominant regional evening paper for London and the surrounding area, with coverage of national and international news and City of London...
also wrote in its review that Butler boldly creates a psychologically complex female lead, surrounding her with unjudged dead-beats, each distinctively vocalising caustic Sheffield vernacular. He also looks to be a master of stage craft, subtly manipulating his audience and characters with dramatic reversals, before arriving at an ending that is inevitable, surprising and loaded with pity and fear.
- Evening Standard Evening Standard 13th September 2001
- Independent, Independent 19th September 2001
- British Theatre Guide British Theatre Guide 13th September 2001
There are also a selection of reviews are available on the royal court theatre website Reviews of Redundant from Royal Court Theatre archive
Articles
- http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/features/leo-butler-thats-not-an-usher-thats-the-author-662973.html