Bliss (Modern Plays) (Paperback)
The water's here, just like us, but soon it'll be flowing past fresh flowers and new grass, and all the way out to the sea.
Based on a short story by the brilliant but often overlooked Russian writer Andrey Platonov (1899-1951), Bliss is the tragi-comic tale of a young couple trying to build a life against the odds in the aftermath of the Russian civil war. As ex-soldier Nikita struggles to overcome what we now might recognise as PTSD, the play opens up into a colourful and strangely heart-warming kaleidoscope of stories, song, laughter and magic, as the survivors of years of devastating war and political revolution all strive to comprehend how society can recover from catastrophe, how real love has both passionate and practical faces, and how the future is only built by those who manage to survive their past. This boisterous play is published in Methuen Drama's Lost Plays series, celebrating new plays that had productions postponed due to the Covid-19 outbreak and the global shutdown of theatre spaces.
Fraser Grace is a multi-award winning playwright whose acclaimed Breakfast with Mugabe (Directed for the RSC by Antony Sher) transferred to the West End and won the 2006 John Whiting Award. Other plays include Perpetua (Winner of the Verity Bargate Award), Frobisher's Gold, The Lifesavers (nominated for the 2009 TMA/Stage Awards) and King David: Man of Blood, described by The Guardian as 'urgent and bang up to date...gripping and exceptionally meaty, delivered with a light touch and a compassion for human fallibility.'