by JonathanHarvey (Author)
Canary is multi-award winning playwright Jonathan Harvey's long-awaited return to the stage: a deeply moving, funny, unflinching, and often magical story about love, honesty and being brave enough to sing out at the top of your voice - with style. In 1960s Liverpool two lovers hide their homosexuality in the closet, then go their separate ways. While pits close and dole queues grow, a couple of runaways find Heaven in 1980s London. And today the paparazzi chase a love story that could tear a family apart. Then a grieving mother gets lost up a mountain, with a vicar for some dubious consolation. With a unique richness of texture and range, Canary combines pathos and humour with a wildly ambitious scope crossing decades through cyclical family histories. The diverse character list includes a primetime TV host, Queen Isabella, Eleanor Rigby, an 'aversion therary' doctor, Mary Whitehouse and striking miners. Skilfully pulling these wide-ranging threads together, Canary provides a social overview of Britain during the last 50 years, with a focus on the struggle against homophobia. Jonathan Harvey's trademark style of warmth, poignancy, humour and imagination is obvious in this epic, Liverpudlian Angels in America for the 21st century.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 128
Publisher: Methuen Drama
Published: 27 Apr 2010
ISBN 10: 1408131048
ISBN 13: 9781408131046
Book Overview: Jonathan Harvey is a multi-award winning playwright whose accolades include the George Devine Award and Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright. Canary signals his long-awaited return to the stage after a successful career in television. Publication to coincide with the world premiere of the play, a co-production between English Touring Theatre and Liverpool's Everyman and Playhouse Theatre, April - July 2010. 2010 Tour dates are as follows: Liverpool Playhouse: 23 April - 15 May; Hampstead Theatre, London: 19 May - 12 June; Cambridge Arts Theatre: 15 - 19 June; Malvern Theatre: 22 - 26 June; Theatre Royal Brighton: 29 June - 3 July.