Back of the Throat

by Yussef El-Guindi

The Old Red Lion, London

Sept 23rd – October 11th

A Yaller Skunk Theatre production in association with Secondglancetheatre;

Yaller Skunk return to The Old Red Lion with the UK premiere of Back Of The Throat, the signature play by the foremost Arab –American playwright; Yussef El-Guindi.

Winner of the Northwest Playwrights’ Competition, voted Best New Play by The Seattle Times, winner of LA Weekly’s Excellence in Playwriting award, and subsequently performed across the US, Back Of The Throat has been described as “an anxious, twisted parable for our time” (Los Angeles Times). When a writer invites two government agents into his apartment to help them with their enquiries he has no reason to expect events will spiral out of control - but a series of misunderstandings highlight the ease with which individual rights can be taken away in the face of institutional paranoia; and how a life can be changed after just an hour-long interrogation.

Back Of The Throat will be directed by David Dorrian. David previously directed Get Away at The Old Red Lion, and has also worked extensively at The Finborough Theatre. He recently assisted Dominic Hill on A Prayer For My Daughter at The Young Vic, and has previously assisted Daniel Kramer and Fiona Laird.

Yussef El-Guindi’s plays include Ten Acrobats in an Amazing Leap of Faith, Such a Beautiful Voice is Sayeda’s, Karima’s City and Our Enemies: Lively Scenes of Love and Combat. He holds a Master of Fine Arts from Carnegie-Mellon University and was playwright-in-residence at Duke University. Yussef El Guindi has also been named 2008 New Play Award winner at Seattle's ACT Theatre, for his new work Language Rooms.

Reviews

Time Out Critics Choice ****

'This cleverley scripted and well acted play shows how easily guilt can be attributed to a person by a suspicious regime and an accurate, if dramatic, view of the post 9/11 world' ****
Simon Jackson, Ham and High

'David Dorrian’s production is sharply acted...It’s tightly scripted and there’s plenty of deft humour'
Robert Shaw, Time Out

'The cast skillfully tiptoes through this finely balanced play...an engaging modern parable'
'Mention must be made of Georgia Lowe’s inventive set'
Jeremy Austin, The Stage

'Back of The Throat has been performed extensively in the United States. On the evidence of David Dorrian's excellent production it deserves this success'
'One of the many strengths of this production is how well it balances it's darkness with laugh-out loud comedy. Malcolm Freeman as Bartlett exemplifies this perfectly, he and Mark Curtis, who plays his sidekick Carl, are a fine comic duo. Kira Lauren is a delight in three roles, as librarian, ex-lover and lap dancer while Georgia Lowe's set plays an active part in the surprises sprung in this play'
'A tight, thought provoking and genuinely funny night out'
Rick Perrins, WhatsOnStage

'Yaller Skunk Theatre Company gives us great visceral theatre that assails all the senses'
'Back of the Throat is a Kafkaesque black comedy and is highly recommended'
Michael Stewart, Morning Star

'Layered performances by an accomplished cast pull out nuance in the writing. Malcolm Freeman and Mark Curtis endow the agents with just the right amount of menace. Kira Lauren morphs adeptly to play all the female leads, a brassy stripper the best of them'
'The genius of this dark comedy is it keeps you laughing even when the humor is so dark you're not entirely comfortable doing so'
Emma Youle, Islington Gazette