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Moore, Basden, Holcroft & Puwanarajah Featured

The four emerging playwrights whose plays will form the National Theatre's Double Feature have been announced as Tom Basden, Sam Holcroft, DC Moore and Prasanna Puwanarajah.

As previously reported the two double-bills, which open in the NT Cottesloe on 27 July (previews from 8 July) and run until 30 August, are directed by Polly Findlay and Lyndsey Turner.

A live band and an ensemble of actors including Pippa Bennett-Warner, Karina Fernandez, Trystan Gravelle, Nitin Kundra and Stephanie Street will premiere the works.

Sam Holcroft's Edgar and Annabel directed by Turner and DC Moore's The Swan directed by Findlay make up one double-bill with Findlay's production of Prasanna Puwanarajah's Nightwatchman and There Is A War by Tom Basden and directed by Turner making up the other.

Holcroft's Edgar and Annabel paints a picture of a police state in crisis where, in a city not unlike London, a group of freedom fighters attempt to stand up to an Orwellian establishment. Focusing on a young married couple, a story unfolds that brings into question relationships, identities and the very nature of reality itself. Holcroft’s plays include Dancing Bears which formed part of Charged for Clean Break at Soho Theatre and Latitude Festival; While You Lie (Traverse, Edinburgh); Pink, part of the Women, Power and Politics Season at the Tricycle; and Cockroach for the National Theatre of Scotland and the Traverse.

The Swan by DC Moore is set in a decaying pub in South London, with preparations underway for a wake. With only an hour before their guests arrive, a fractured family begin to settle their accounts. Moore’s play examines the ties that hold us together in a multi-cultural society. His credits for the Royal Court include Alaska and the TMA Award-winning The Empire. An Olivier and Evening Standard Award nominee Moore is currently working on an original project for Channel 4 called Jalalabad.

Prasanna Puwanarajah's Nightwatchman focuses on an English Sri Lankan cricketer on the eve of her international debut. Challenging preconceptions of politics, sport and national pride, Abirami finds herself playing for England against Sri Lanka. Billed as "coarse, funny and provocative" the play explores the search for the meaning of home. Puwanarajah’s work as an actor includes Emperor and Galilean, Hamlet and London Assurance for the National; Twelfth Night for the RSC and Thyestes at the Arcola. His writing credits include the short films The Half Light which he also directed, starring David Haig, Henry Goodman and Harry Lloyd, and Clamp and Grind.

There Is A War by Tom Basden is a miniature epic with a black comedy edge, set against the backdrop of an unfamiliar war with factions fighting for as long as they can remember. Soldiers, priests and scavengers roam a landscape scorched by years of battle and decay. Anne, a young medical officer, finds herself abandoned and useless, unable to locate the hospital or even the war she was promised. Basden’s plays include Joseph K at The Gate and the Edinburgh Fringe First-winning Party!

Basden won the if.comedy Best Newcomer Award at the Edinburgh Festival for his one-man show Tom Basden Won’t Say Anything which also travelled to the Melbourne Comedy Festival. His television credits include Fresh Meat, The Best, Me and My Monsters, Armstrong and Miller, Party, Brave Young Men and Cowards.

- by Andrew Girvan

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Internal Links
	Boss Blog: Theatre's Debt to Comedy - 11th Aug 2011 blog
	Double Feature - 5th Aug 2011 reviews
	Photos: NT Opens Paintframe for New Play Double - 4th Aug 2011 news
	Opening: NT Paintframe, Scoop Fest & EdFringe - 1st Aug 2011 news
	London Extends, NT Opens Backstage to Double - 16th May 2011 news