Katrina

(Paperback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

Katrina uses survivor testimonies and the rich musical tradition of New Orleans to tell the story of the immediate aftermath of the 2005 hurricane. Staged in a five-storey warehouse on London's South Bank, Jericho House's play takes the audience on an odyssey through a drowned city, enveloped in the most immersive of visual and aural designs, in the company of individuals displaced and abandoned within their own city. The plot follows from the death of Virgil, a decadent old New Orleanian, who has been killed by Hurricane Katrina. Trapped by the rising floodwater his partner Beatrice determines to take his body to safety at City Hall. During her journey she encounters a number of other survivors and hears their stories. Woven into this character's journey, transcripts of witnesses and survivors are presented verbatim.

Reviews

'The stories build up a staggering picture of official lies and personal heroism' * Michael Billington, Guardian, 6.9.09 *
'Holmes' theatrical sensibility is undeniably powerful' * Henry Hitchings, Evening Standard (London), 7.9.09 *
'Painful, pungent and bleakly comic' * Rhoda Koenig, Independent, 9.9.09 *
we picture for ourselves the bloated corpses - and the lives seeping away, drop by drop' * Dominic Cavendish, The Telegraph, 09.09.09 *

Author Bio

After a PhD from the Shakespeare Institute, Birmingham University (later published by Routledge as Merely Players), writer and director Jonathan Holmes was senior lecturer in drama at Royal Holloway for 6 years. He has directed a range of work at venues such as the Riverside Studios, The Royal Court New Writing Festival, and in Edinburgh. His latest piece was Fallujah which ran at the Truman Brewery, Brick Lane with a cast including Harriet Walter, Irene Jacob and Imogen Stubbs in 2007.