Off-West End Theatre to see tonight and tomorrow
Playwright P.Sean and comedian Dave Ellis have brand new shows
When P. Sean Zanhany was serving in the Israeli Navy, he would while away the long nights at sea by writing stories.
“We weren’t allowed a phone so I would sit and write,” says P.Sean, who was a serving medic on a combat navy ship. He and his fellow seamen liked to enjoy a joke so, in the spirit of fun, P.Sean made up a character to entertain them. The imaginary character was a whore, a biblical style figure, called Thatria. And, as P. Sean wove stories about her, his creation became larger than life, and he found that she had taken control of his writing, and the words that he wrote started to be penned from her thoughts.
“Thatria became bigger and bigger. It was as if she had taken me over and was writing the story.” said P.Sean, who now lives in London.
And through Thatria P.Sean created an epic Game of Thrones-style story about two kingdoms, each with a household on top of facing hills, and the diverse characters living there. The book has themes about what it takes to be a woman, the power of being a woman, about women needing men to stay safe and give them a sense of belonging and ownership.
The story is now a trilogy and P.Sean, who is in his final year of a BA International degree at London’s East15 acting School, decided to turn the first volume into a play. He submitted it to his tutors for the university’s final year showcase and it was one of just six plays chosen to be performed.
“I have always been interested in the idea of grief and how we find it as an impulse reaction, especially for Israelis living with war – it is a natural occurrence,” he says. “The play has universal themes of power, politics, sex and grief. Called Tiad, after one of the kingdoms, it tells the story of King Gernage, whose obsession with Thatria ignites a war and is a dark examination of lust, power, and the human cost, and it reveals how passion can corrupt even the strongest thrones.
“In the play people find reasons to smile despite suffering the loss of their children and their lover. It’s about the semantics of managing grief and how perceptions can change depending on circumstances or the need to survive.”
Tiad is at Corbett Theatre, East15 Acting School Theatre, Loughton 19-22 November east15.ac.uk
What’s in a name? Jewish comedian Dave Ellis will be asking this at Islington’s Hope Theatre when he stages his latest show My Mate Dave. Actor Dave, who started doing stand-up comedy four years ago, loves a good story. In his latest show he takes a good look at himself and his friends, because friends are one of the most important aspects of his life. And now that he is getting older (he’s 38) it has made him think about friendship and the friends he still has, and the friends he no longer sees. And as someone called Dave, he feels well qualified to comment, because in itself the name Dave seems so much friendlier than David and it is such a common name that, well, everyone knows a Dave.
Dave, originally from Bedford but now lives in Greenwich, is a full-time actor and performer. Although relatively new to standup, his Edinburgh Fringe Festival show The Worst Jew won rave reviews. He is part of Underground Treehouse, the production company that has written and produced award-winning films that have been screened at the BFI, featured on the BBC and accepted for BAFTA nominated Festivals. He is working on a full-length feature film that is a mix of comedy and horror, taking tropes from The Omen and Peepshow. The working title is Neville’s Advocate and asks the question: “What happens if your flat mate is the anti-Christ.”
My Mate Dave is at The Hope Theatre, Islington 20 & 21 November. thehopetheatre.com
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