100 (play)

Last updated

100
Written byNeil Monaghan
CharactersKetu
Sophie
Alex
The Guide
Nia
Phil (not original character)
Date premieredAugust 1, 2002 (2002-08-01)
Place premieredSmirinoff Underbelly Theatre, Edinburgh, Scotland
[ Official site]

100 is a play produced by the theatrical company "TheImaginaryBody" for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. It first appeared at the 2002 festival, where it won a Fringe First Award for 'innovation in theatre and outstanding new production'. Since then, it has played at a variety of venues around the world, including the Soho Theatre in London [1] and the du Maurier Theatre in Toronto. [2]

Contents

Plot summary

The play centers on the afterlives of four characters who, finding themselves in a mysterious 'Void', are informed by the equally enigmatic Guide that they must choose one memory from their lives in which to spend eternity. The remainder of the play follows their individual memories and searches for self-knowledge. Although heralded at the time as new, the premise of the play is in fact quite similar to that of Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda's 1998 film 'After Life', in which the concept was less stylized. [3] The deaths of the characters themselves, alongside their memories, are explored throughout the play physically by the cast. Alex and Nia are told to have died from smoke inhalation, by a fire while they slept. Ketu committed suicide, unable to live with the knowledge that only he was living with the truth. It is also confirmed, while not explicitly mentioned what illness within the play, that the character of Sophie suffers from an STD given to her by Mr Gray, the cause of her death, in an interview with writer Neil Monaghan in March 2003.

Original Cast

---Producer - Claire Wright-

Secondary Cast

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References

  1. "Memories best forgotten". The Daily Telegraph . 11 February 2003. Retrieved 10 October 2012.
  2. "Play mindful of Sartre as dead as dead gets". Toronto Star . 17 April 2003.
  3. Hoile, C. "Less Than Perfect", Stage Door, Toronto, 20 April 2003.