Strawberry Fields (play)

Strawberry Fields is a theatre play written by Stephen Poliakoff and staged at the Cottesloe, National Theatre in March 1977. Strawberry Fields was the first ever National Theatre production at the Cottesloe,[1][2] the NT’s ‘black box’ studio theatre (now Dorfman).

It starred Jane Asher, Stephen Rea and Kenneth Cranham and was directed by the film director Michael Apted.

The play was also presented at the Manhattan Theatre Club in New York in 1978.[3][4]

Storyline

Strawberry Fields brings together a group of distinctive characters who have little in common other than the cause that they support and is set against the question of how seemingly harmless individual characters might, in given socio-historical circumstances, get drawn into extreme beliefs and, indeed, violent action.[4]

Described by Robin Nelson as "journey play" that "has a claustrophobic cauldron atmosphere, adding tension to what at the outset appear to be innocuous events. It is a kind of inverse Easy Rider rather than a play in which the built environment entraps the characters."[5][6] Nelson referred to the CBC Radio review which described the play, "it’s 'Alice in Wonderland' with guns and sexual nostalgia, sort of a fairy tale cross between Pinter and Easy Rider".[7]

Strawberry Fields has had many productions since, especially across Europe. It was made into a television film version in West Germany, which was transmitted on Channel 4 in 1985.[8]

The playtext was issued in 1977 by Methuen.[9]

References
  1. Billington, Michael (4 April 1977). "Review of Strawberry Fields at Cottesloe, NT". The Guardian, Arts: 8 – via British Library News Archives.
  2. Rosenthal, Daniel (2013). The National Theatre Story. Oberon Books. pp. clxvii.
  3. "archives.nypl.org -- Manhattan Theatre Club records". archives.nypl.org. Retrieved 2017-01-17.
  4. Eder, Richard (1978-06-05). "'Strawberry Fields'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-01-19.
  5. Nelson, Robin (2011). Stephen Poliakoff on Stage and Screen. London: Methuen Drama, Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 12.
  6. Billington, Michael (2013-10-18). "The National theatre at 50: Michael Billington's view from the stalls". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2017-01-17.
  7. "Review of Stephen Poliakoff's Strawberry Fields". CBC Radio. 19 November 1979 – via Establishing Boundaries, English-Canadian Theatre Criticism. University of Toronto Press.
  8. "Strawberry Fields (1985)". BFI. Archived from the original on October 26, 2021. Retrieved 2017-01-17.
  9. ISBN 0413384705
  • Wagner, Anton (1999). "Establishing Boundaries, English-Canadian Theatre Criticism". University of Toronto Press
  • Poliakoff, Stephen (1 December 2006). “Plays: Vol1 - Clever Soldiers, Hitting Town, City Sugar, Shout Across the River, American Days, Strawberry Fields". Methuen Contemporary Dramatists
  • Coveney, Michael (June 1977)."Strawberry Fields". Plays and Players, p. 24.
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