Bøger af Naomi Wallace

In your hearts you know the truth: I was here among you three hundred years ago . . . Had you chosen differently then - before slavery and greed breathed their venom so deeply into our souls - we would be living in another world now. It is not too late to purge these poisons. Benjamin Lay - shepherd, sailor, prophet, and the British Empire's first revolutionary abolitionist - returns from the grave almost three hundred years after his death, as feisty and unpredictable as ever. A four-feet-tall 'Little David' confronts the 'Goliath' of slavery once again as he pleads to be readmitted into the Quaker community that has disowned him and who still believe him to be dangerous. Now, 'trembling at the edge of playing God himself', how far will Benjamin go as he stares down his accusers?The Return of Benjamin Lay sweeps across the centuries in a bold exploration of an utterly impossible man. The play opened at the Finborough Theatre, London, in June 2023.

Liana and Marcus have a marriage others envy. Doré has grown accustomed to an isolated existence in her modest flat. After a surprise reunion on Marcus's 40th birthday, their worlds are shattered by an unexpected turn of events. NIGHT IS A ROOM is a searing exploration of love's power to both ruin and remake our lives. "In NIGHT IS A ROOM, Naomi Wallace's strange, surprising, often funny finish to her three-play residency at Signature Theater... ...about halfway through the play, Ms Wallace tosses a small bomb into her narrative, the audience, too, will be stumbling to find its footing. To say what causes the jolt would be to ruin one of the more audacious jaw-droppers in recent memory, so I won't, but it was fascinating to hear a crowd move from confused to startled to uncomfortable, yet game and curious. As the lights went up at intermission, I heard someone murmur, `What do you do after that?'..." Laura Collins-Hughes, The New York Times

In this lyrical, searing one-act, an American soldier has an unexpected encounter with two Afghan sisters who are ready to embark on a new life. Their fates-and his-become entangled as the lines between their divergent realities become dangerously blurred. "NO SUCH COLD THING unsettles the ground beneath our feet much as [Wallace's] characters have found it vanishing beneath their own. The characters are pitched, dreamlike, somewhere between life and death as Wallace expertly pinpoints the reality of war in the magical-surreal of dramatic imagination." Robert Avila, San Francisco Bay Guardian "In their existential disorientation, Wallace's Middle East plays escape the logic, the prison and the sentimental clichés of a realistic and more sociable theatre, because their impatient narratives take shape only to disintegrate, their dramatic value heightened by the instability of the drama itself." Randy Gener, American Theatre

Two imprisoned young women, one African American and the other white, form a perilous bond. As they serve time they forge a plan for survival. They practice hard. If they don't get it right they'll lose everything: the outside world is even more dangerous to their friendship than the jail itself. Exploring the fierce dreams of youth and the brutal reality of adulthood in 1950's segregated America. "Unmissable ... an exquisitely understated examination of female friendship and unspoken love. It's a truly American tragedy about two women who want so little and get nothing except from each other, yet it is leavened with humour. Wallace's devastating, moving play is entirely without extravagance and artifice and is completely grounded in the harshness of the real world." -Lyn Gardner, The Guardian "Naomi Wallace's short, painful prison drama uses the backdrop of racially segregated '50s America to weave a tale of the hope that can blossom behind bars, and the despair that can destroy a life outside them." -Andrzej Lukowski, Time Out "In just 75 minutes on a tiny, almost bare stage, playwright Naomi Wallace conjures a compelling picture of friendship against the odds in the segregated America of the Fifties." -Fiona Mountford, London Evening Standard "AND I AND SILENCE is a play that takes on big themes in a very small way and has the ability to be both powerful and touching, leading to an unforgettable dénouement." -Philip Fisher, The British Theatre Guide "A former MacArthur genius fellow and Obie winner, Wallace is one of the most subtle and politically engaged American playwrights of her generation. Once again, the question arises: Why isn't this superb writer more widely produced? ... Thanks to Wallace's delicate touch and generous imagination, AND I AND SILENCE unfolds into a story of love whose unexpected emotional power sideswipes the audience." -Karen Fricker, Variety

Two imprisoned young women, one African American and the other white, form a perilous bond. As they serve time they forge a plan for survival. They practice hard. If they don't get it right they'll lose everything: the outside world is even more dangerous to their friendship than the jail itself.Exploring the fierce dreams of youth and the brutal reality of adulthood in 1950's segregated America, Naomi Wallace's And I and Silence premiered at the Finborough Theatre, London, in May 2011.

A bold and lyrical new historical drama about lives that have been erased from history.

An evocative new drama from an admired and award-winning playwright.

A collection of new plays from some of the best playwrights whose work has been produced in London New Play Festival.