Brazilian beauty Augusta is dining with an old friend, Patrick. With them is Alfredo, the Latin American subject of his current biography. Something is strange. The guests seem faintly familiar to each other. A fourth place is laid but nobody comes. Are these accidents, or coincidences? Is Patrick up to something? An evening that starts out as a comedy of manners turns into a terrifying confrontation with the past.
The New End Theatre
Tuesday 7th October to Sunday 2 November 2008 @ 7.30pm
Out of Bounds and Bare Boards ... and a passion presents
Laughing in the Dark
The extraordinary story of a Holocaust Ventriloquist
Written and performed by Graeme Messer
Directed by Chrys Salt Designed by Chrystine Bennett Music composed by Peter Michaels Lyrics by Chrys Salt
Nathan Silberman is twelve years old and has never spoken a word. When his parents buy him Otto, a ventriloquist dummy, he speaks for the first time!
As he grows up the partnership takes him from his comfortable middle-class life into the decadent and sexually liberating world of Berlin’s Cabaret bars – then, with the emergence of The Third Reich, to performing on the streets of a Polish Ghetto.
But can Nathan perform his act in a Concentration Camp? Is there laughter in the dark?
The New End Theatre
Tuesday 14th October to Sunday 2 November 2008 @ 9.30pm