Mongrel Island

(Paperback)

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Description

Marie is losing herself in her grey office existence, trapped by endless piles of paperwork and the same people saying the same things every single day. But as she is forced to work later and later into the night, she discovers a deeply strange twilight world where a new possibility for rescuing her sanity is illuminated by the fluorescent office lights. Commissioned by Soho Theatre and written by up-and-coming writer Ed Harris, Mongrel Island explores the mind and memory, offering a perspective of how the workplace can strip away our humanity. Combining madcap, surreal humour with an indictment of the corporate world's subjugation of individualism, Mongrel Island is a bittersweet, touching and darkly humourous play.

Reviews

A writer worth watching. -- Ian Shuttleworth * Financial Times *
In this tasty 90 minutes of wild humour tinged with quiet sadness there is a great deal to savour. -- Lyn Gardner * Guardian *
[Harris's] lines are sharp, his characters self-aware. This is a hugely promising piece of work. -- Dominic Maxwell * The Times *
In a play haunted by death, suicide, depression, defeatism and dysfunctional parent-child relationships, Harris displays a raw sensitivity to these subjects and a devastatingly vibrant turn of phrase about them... A talent to look out for. -- Paul Taylor * Independent *

Author Bio

Ed Harris is a Brighton-based playwright and poet. His stage plays include Never Ever After (Chalkfoot Theatre Arts, shortlisted for the 2008 Meyer-Whitworth Award), Lucy (Academy of Creative Training/NYT) and The Cow Play (UK tour, Squaremoon/Farnham Maltings). For radio, Ed has written numerous critically-acclaimed plays for BBC Radio 4 in recent years, and he was shortlisted for the Tinniswood Award in 2010 for The Moment You Feel It. His first radio series will be broadcast in 2012.