It is the general aim of theatre to make us forget that we’re watching a play but there are certain dramas and dramatists that deliberately draw attention to the artificiality of the medium: Luigi Pirandello (Six Characters in Search of an Author) sent up the pretence for laughs and double-takes, while Bertolt Brecht (Mother Courage and Her Children) had a political and philosophical desire to “alienate” the audience from succumbing to illusion.
Handbagged, Moira Buffini’s remarkably enjoyable new play, is both Pirandellian and Brechtian, but employs their tricks to original effect. This presentational invention may have been encouraged by the fact that the author’s chosen subject – the relationship between Queen Elizabeth II and Margaret Thatcher &nda
12 October 2013, The Tablet
Models of precision
Theatre
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