JUDITH: A PARTING FROM THE BODY Opens at the Cock Tavern Theatre 2/7

Howard Barker - one of the UK's most provocative playwrights -fearlessly explores power, sexuality and human behaviour with a poetic and compelling language that is rich in ideas, beauty and dramatic violence. In the 1970s he created the "Theatre of Catastrophe", shunning theatrical convention to expose the perversity and ambiguity of the human condition. The Cock Tavern Theatre continues its commitment to reviving the works of crucial and relevant playwrights (as with our soon-to-be-announced Tennessee Williams centenary season) with this timely production of JUDITH.

JUDITH is a lyrical three-hander that radically re-imagines the apocryphal story of an Israeli widow's deception and decapitation of an Assyrian general, saving Israel from invasion. This
production presents an alternative enactment of the known "Judith"story in one tensely protracted and confronting moment of contemporary mythology.

Since its original production in 1995, JUDITH has been rarely produced. Until now, Barker's independent theatre company "The Wrestling School" has been the primary means for staging his works in the UK. Since losing its funding in 2007, it faces an uncertain future. Just as the success of our 2010 Edward Bond season proved a timely retrospective of a vital UK playwright, it is our hope that with this revival The c*ckTavern Theatre becomes a home for Howard Barker's works. Just as he once urged a "tragic renaissance", The c*ckTavern Theatre is staging a renaissance of Barker, the celebration of a "return to tragedy".

JUDITH: A PARTING FROM THE BODY
By Howard Barker

Director... Robyn Winfield-Smith
Sound Designer... Nick Jones
Costume Designer... Julia Berndt
Produced by Adam Spreadbury-Maher &
Roxanne Peak-Payne for Good Night Out Presents
CAST
Judith... Catherine Cusack
Holofernes... Liam Smith
Servant... Emmeline Prio

LISTINGS INFORMATION

JUDITH:

A PARTING FROM THE BODY

7 - 26 FEBRUARY 2011

PREVIEWS: Feb 7 & 8... 7.30pm

PRESS NIGHT: Wed 9 Feb... 7.30pm

SEASON: Feb 13, 14, 15, 16, 20, 21, 22... 7.30pm
MATINEE: Sat 26 Feb, 3.00pm

Tickets: £5.00 - £12.00

at The c*ckTavern Theatre
125 Kilburn High Road
London NW6 6JH
www.cocktaverntheatre.com
0207 478 0165

Tube: Kilburn Park (Bakerloo), Kilburn (Jubilee)
Overground: Brondesbury, Kilburn High Road

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