How to Hold Your Breath

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Zinnie Harris FRSE is a British playwright, screenwriter and director currently living in Edinburgh. [1] She has been commissioned and produced by the Royal Court Theatre, Royal National Theatre, the National Theatre of Scotland and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Her plays have been translated and performed in many countries across Europe and the globe. Zinnie Harris (2015 UK)". Berwin Lee London New York Playwrights Inc. 15 May 2013 . Retrieved 15 October 2018. In 2020, she adapted The Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith for a new musical, to premiere in 2021 at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre. The production was directed by Timothy Sheader, choreographed by Liam Steel, set and costumes designed by Katrina Linsdsay with puppetry designed and direction by Toby Olié. [21] Harris’ The Duchess (of Malfi), an adaptation of John Webster’s Duchess of Malfi, opened at the Royal Lyceum Theatre in 2019 . [20]

How To Hold Your Breath, Royal Court Theatre - The Arts Desk How To Hold Your Breath, Royal Court Theatre - The Arts Desk

Angels reach out across Edinburgh and Europe". HeraldScotland. 28 August 2017 . Retrieved 2018-10-15. Oresteia: This Restless House - National Theatre Scotland". National Theatre Scotland . Retrieved 2018-10-15. Harris’ original plays also put female characters at the centre of the narrative. How to Hold Your Breath (2015) challenges the notion of the ‘everyman’ and Meet me at Dawn (2017) dramatizes the relationship between two women in an examination of grief. [7] Career [ edit ] 1999–2010 [ edit ]Zinnie Harris on Oresteia: This Restless House | 2017 International Festival , retrieved 2023-01-15 Oresteia: This Restless House - International Festival | The Lyceum | Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh". lyceum.org.uk. 22 August 2017 . Retrieved 2018-10-12.

How to Hold Your Breath by… | Royal Welsh College of Music How to Hold Your Breath by… | Royal Welsh College of Music

Zinnie Harris, Playwright and Screenwriter | Our journey through the work of our amazing School of English faculty continues with playwright, screenwriter, director and St Andrews Professor, Zinnie... | By School of English, University of St Andrews | Facebook". www.facebook.com . Retrieved 2023-01-15.Similarly, in The Duchess (of Malfi), her adaptation of John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi, the duchess is given the final word as Webster’s text is rewoven to examine the control and violence of men towards women. [5] In her version of Strindberg’s Miss Julie, Julie is a character with actions of those of a child who is scared of and has been coerced by her father. [6] Wade, Mike (2017-07-31). "Zinnie Harris: the drama queen of the Edinburgh festival (she's got five plays on)". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460 . Retrieved 2018-10-12. Zinnie Harris: 'You try to destroy women at your peril' ". HeraldScotland. 11 May 2019 . Retrieved 2023-01-15. Regent's Park Open Air Theatre announce 2020 season". British Theatre. 2019-09-11 . Retrieved 2019-09-11. Dana is so upset that, the next day, she almost misses a presentation about “the customer experience” that she has to do for work. The nightmare deepens. Dana’s sister, Jasmine, tries to help. But she has her own intimate concerns. The pair eventually set off on a journey across Europe. The names Berlin, Budapest and the Adriatic drift through this symbolic itinerary. The nightmare deepens. More and more. Yet just as the devil persecutes them, so they acquire a guardian angel in the shape of an ever-helpful Librarian. Always on hand to offer a parody of self-help books, he has suggestions for every occasion.

Prof Zinnie Harris - School of English - University of St Andrews Prof Zinnie Harris - School of English - University of St Andrews

However, at the heart of the play is Dana’s own journey from a quiet, normal life working in Berlin to a woman driven to extreme measures by the suffering she later endures. Despite the bizarre and increasingly unreal situations that Dana finds herself in, Maxine Peake keeps the character grounded and believable with a gritty stubbornness as she struggles for survival. In a strong performance, Christine Bottomley takes Dana’s sister from sassy best friend to a creature broken by circumstance. Peter Forbes’ ever-helpful librarian injects humour as he offers increasingly absurd self-help books such as “How to Spot Danger and Know How to Deal with It” and “How to Catch up with the Times as They Change”. Fresh from a triumphant turn as the great Dane himself in Machester Royal Exchange's production of Hamlet, Maxine Peake will return to the London stage to star in How to Hold Your Breath. Described by The Timesas a'stunningly good'Hamlet,Peake is a seasoned stage star at the peak of her career with plenty of experience at The National Theatre and The Royal Court.She's a familiar face from starring in TV dramas including Shameless, Dr Who and The Village. Everything happens on the same junk-covered set, with no sense that Dana and Jasmin are actually travelling anywhere. Coupled with Dana’s hallucinogenic visitations from both Shaeffer’s increasingly agitated Jarron and Peter Forbes’s amusingly prissy, quasi-angelic librarian and Featherstone almost seems to be interpreting ‘How To Hold Your Breath’ as taking place in its protagonist’s head. But to what end? If none of it is really happening, the geopolitical stuff loses value, as does Jasmin, whose heartbreaking, ugly late monologue about her baby is one of the play’s stand-out moments. Clearly it is at least real on some level, but Featherstone muddies it enough to sap the play’s momentum, while the relentlessly dour tone squishes the considerable sparkle in Harris’s dialogue. Harris places her protagonist in an Odyssean role as she traverses the storms brewing in European society. Maxine Peake, Hamlet Star and no stranger to leading roles, commands this position with ease. Strong support comes from Christine Bottomley, whose delivery of a monologue about the death of her child is awful and mesmerising,

With impressive artistry, Harris uses a seemingly innocent encounter to wrench upon concepts of modern day morality. Ideas on immigration are turned on their head, as the characters look for aid and support from countries south of Europe. In a similar vein to Harris' previous Royal Court production, N ightingale and Chase, women are at the heart of her story with Dana and Jasmine as representatives for generations of forgotten voices. Throughout the unfolding horror of their journey sharp wit sparks aside melancholic monologues. Topsy-turvy life … Maxine Peake and Peter Forbes in How to Hold Your Breath. Photograph: Tristram Kenton In truth, this show won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. But that’s the brilliant thing about the Royal Court; its fearless programming takes risks and stages challenging, divisive pieces of work that will leave you reeling and full of questions. How To Hold Your Breath is no exception, and if you like your drama delivered with a creative, witty, intelligent and political punch – with the exceptional Peake as a bonus, of course – this show’s surreal, dark vision is likely to dazzle.