Difference between revisions of "The Great Outdoors"

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by '''[[Neil McCarthy]]''' (2000).
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''[[The Great Outdoors]]'' is a play by '''[[Neil McCarthy]]''' (2000). Best New Play, [[Vita Awards]] 2001.
  
 
== Subject ==
 
== Subject ==
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The primary focus is on ordinary South Africans facing their own fallibility and living with guilt and fear in the new South Africa. The central character is a car salesman who, driving home, runs over and kills a drunk man from a squatter camp. With the help of a former army colleague, now an officer in the police force, they cover it up. But the price is a Faustian arrangement requiring the salesman to allow the police major to sleep with his wife.
  
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Prominent theatre critic [[Robert Greig]] described this play as “A mountain of South African theatre - one of the most complex and mature plays written in this country in the past two decades, it makes others look infantile” (2001).
  
EDIT>>> The Great Outdoors is the story of a suburban couple who are involved in a car accident. They are caught up in a "network of crumbling morality". The play also contains "echoes of social themes such as ethics and choices also reflected in personal and sexual arenas."
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==Translations and adaptations==
 
 
EDIT>>> Natal 2002 >> Raymond and Paula is an easily recognisable suburban South African couple. Raymond (Ben Voss) is a car salesman with an elegant marketing executive wife (Tamar Meskin). They meet up with the dark and brooding Neville (Esmael Teixeira) one of Raymond's buddies from the army who is now a police major, and Cassie (Belinda Henwood), a spirited dancer off to Miami. Raymond kills a black man near a squatter camp, fails to stop and looks to the major to help him cover it up. The major will help him - at a price. The repercussions reverberate through the lives of all four characters.
 
  
 
== Performance history in South Africa ==
 
== Performance history in South Africa ==
Premièred at the [[Grahamstown Festival]] 2000, directed by [[Barbara Rubin]].
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2000-2001: Premièred at the [[Grahamstown Festival]], directed by [[Barbara Rubin]], with [[Neil McCarthy]], [[Jamie Bartlett]], [[Leila Henriques]] and [[Debbie Brown]]. The same production was staged at the Agfa [[Theatre on the Square]] in Sandton in April 2001.  
 
 
  
EDIT>>>
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2002: Produced in the [[Square Space Theatre]] on the University of Natal campus, directed by [[Maurice Podbrey]], with [[Ben Voss]], [[Tamar Meskin]], [[Esmael Teixeira]] and [[Belinda Henwood]] in April 2002.  
At the Agfa [[Theatre on the Square]] in Sandton in April 2001, directed by [[Barbara Rubin]].
 
  
the Square Space Theatre on the University of Natal campus from 10 April until 11 May 2002, directed by [[Maurice Podbrey]], with [[Ben Voss]], [[Tamar Meskin]], [[Esmael Teixeira]] and [[Belinda Henwood]]. 
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2002: Staged at the [[Baxter Theatre]] in August 2002, directed by [[Maurice Podbrey]], with [[Jamie Bartlett]], [[Terry Norton]], [[Adrian Galley]] and [[Victoria Bartlett]].
 
 
**** Performed 2002, featuring [[Terry Norton]], ** and **. Directed by ***.
 
 
 
==Translations and adaptations==
 
  
 
== Sources ==
 
== Sources ==
 
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''[[Business Day]]'', 3 May 2001.
  
 
Go to [[South African Theatre/Bibliography|ESAT Bibliography]]
 
Go to [[South African Theatre/Bibliography|ESAT Bibliography]]

Latest revision as of 17:40, 15 October 2019

The Great Outdoors is a play by Neil McCarthy (2000). Best New Play, Vita Awards 2001.

Subject

The primary focus is on ordinary South Africans facing their own fallibility and living with guilt and fear in the new South Africa. The central character is a car salesman who, driving home, runs over and kills a drunk man from a squatter camp. With the help of a former army colleague, now an officer in the police force, they cover it up. But the price is a Faustian arrangement requiring the salesman to allow the police major to sleep with his wife.

Prominent theatre critic Robert Greig described this play as “A mountain of South African theatre - one of the most complex and mature plays written in this country in the past two decades, it makes others look infantile” (2001).

Translations and adaptations

Performance history in South Africa

2000-2001: Premièred at the Grahamstown Festival, directed by Barbara Rubin, with Neil McCarthy, Jamie Bartlett, Leila Henriques and Debbie Brown. The same production was staged at the Agfa Theatre on the Square in Sandton in April 2001.

2002: Produced in the Square Space Theatre on the University of Natal campus, directed by Maurice Podbrey, with Ben Voss, Tamar Meskin, Esmael Teixeira and Belinda Henwood in April 2002.

2002: Staged at the Baxter Theatre in August 2002, directed by Maurice Podbrey, with Jamie Bartlett, Terry Norton, Adrian Galley and Victoria Bartlett.

Sources

Business Day, 3 May 2001.

Go to ESAT Bibliography

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