Catastrophe / Private View

Blue Rider Group presents a Samuel Beckett and Václav Havel double bill.

Catastrophe by Samuel Beckett

Catastrophe sees a theatre director and his assistant arranging a protagonist, who stands on a square plinth, bare-footed, his head bowed - submitting to their direction. This Havel-like captive, silently wills the audience into an awareness of his predicament...

Private View by Václav Havel

Invited over for drinks by his friends, Ferdinand tries to enthuse over Michael and Vera's newly refurbished flat. But as the couple express the perfection of their marriage and lifestyle, the tone develops into a personal attack on him, his home, his wife and his work as a writer. As the abuse builds to a climax, he tries to leave...

Both plays are dark, tense and in parts cruelly funny.