The Bomb
A Partial History
Oberon Books Ltd (Publisher)
Published on 15. February 2012
Book
Paperback/Softback
272 pages
978-1-84943-152-1 (ISBN)
Description
THE BOMB - A Partial History is a season of plays from leading contemporary dramatists, charting the political history of the Nuclear Bomb and its proliferation from 1940 to the present day.
FIRST BLAST (1940 - 1992) features plays by John Donnelly, Elena Gremina, Amit Gupta, Zinnie Harris & Ron Hutchinson. It is the first year of World War II, and in Whitehall two emigre Jewish scientists are waiting for a meeting to get the British establishment to take their nuclear research seriously. The following plays then trace the history of the Labour party wrestling with the decision to build the Atomic Bomb, the Cuban missile crisis from a Russian perspective, China's war with India and the subsequent development of India's bomb, the break-up of the Soviet Union and the unilateral disarmament of Ukraine.
SECOND BLAST (1992 - 2012) features plays by Lee Blessing, Ryan Craig, David Greig, Zinnie Harris, Diana Son & Colin Teevan. A contemporary take on the non-proliferation debate looking at Israel and Iran's nuclear capability, the 'axis of evil' speech and its affect on North Korea, the U.K.'s continuing reliance on Trident in the post Cold War era, through to the current negotiations with Iran and weapons' inspections there.
FIRST BLAST (1940 - 1992) features plays by John Donnelly, Elena Gremina, Amit Gupta, Zinnie Harris & Ron Hutchinson. It is the first year of World War II, and in Whitehall two emigre Jewish scientists are waiting for a meeting to get the British establishment to take their nuclear research seriously. The following plays then trace the history of the Labour party wrestling with the decision to build the Atomic Bomb, the Cuban missile crisis from a Russian perspective, China's war with India and the subsequent development of India's bomb, the break-up of the Soviet Union and the unilateral disarmament of Ukraine.
SECOND BLAST (1992 - 2012) features plays by Lee Blessing, Ryan Craig, David Greig, Zinnie Harris, Diana Son & Colin Teevan. A contemporary take on the non-proliferation debate looking at Israel and Iran's nuclear capability, the 'axis of evil' speech and its affect on North Korea, the U.K.'s continuing reliance on Trident in the post Cold War era, through to the current negotiations with Iran and weapons' inspections there.
Reviews / Votes
"An entertaining, provoking dossier, with admirable nuance and real purpose" 4 stars - Time Out"Bold and political... a probing account of the history of nuclear weapons - and their future... a timely attempt to catalyse debate about a subject too often neglected" 4 stars - Evening Standard
"The Bomb... can only be reviewed as an event. And what an event. Only the Tricycle - the last bastion of powerful political theatre in the UK - could present a five-hour marathon on the development and deployment of the nuclear bomb. And only the Tricycle could make those five hours fly... an exercise in creating simple, entertaining and crucial polemical theatre." - The Stage
"A characteristically ambitious and penetrating collection of short plays... there isn't a complete dud among them, and the best pieces are superb examples of powerful one-act drama... One leaves the theatre thrilled, chilled and deeply fearful about what the future may hold." 4 stars - The Telegraph
"An astonishing achievement that puts the nuclear issue back at the centre of public debate... The Tricycle has once again started a debate that our politicians would prefer to suppress." - Guardian
"A vivid, serious examination of one of the most pressing issues of our time." - Financial Times
"Like a highly trained rapid response unit, Nicolas Kent's Tricycle Theatre again proves itself adept at seizing the moment with its latest big event... the Tricycle once again powerfully dramatises the need to understand our history in order to understand ourselves." - Metro
"Nothing's funnier, or more frightening, than the concept of nations entitled to own nuclear weapons on the condition they don't detonate them." - Independent
"One leaves the theatre thrilled, chilled and deeply fearful about what the future may hold." - Daily Telegraph ?An entertaining, provoking dossier, with admirable nuance and real purpose" 4 stars ? Time Out
?Bold and political? a probing account of the history of nuclear weapons - and their future... a timely attempt to catalyse debate about a subject too often neglected" 4 stars ? Evening Standard
?The Bomb? can only be reviewed as an event. And what an event. Only the Tricycle - the last bastion of powerful political theatre in the UK - could present a five-hour marathon on the development and deployment of the nuclear bomb. And only the Tricycle could make those five hours fly? an exercise in creating simple, entertaining and crucial polemical theatre." ? The Stage
?A characteristically ambitious and penetrating collection of short plays? there isn't a complete dud among them, and the best pieces are superb examples of powerful one-act drama? One leaves the theatre thrilled, chilled and deeply fearful about what the future may hold." 4 stars ? The Telegraph
?An astonishing achievement that puts the nuclear issue back at the centre of public debate? The Tricycle has once again started a debate that our politicians would prefer to suppress." ? Guardian
?A vivid, serious examination of one of the most pressing issues of our time." ? Financial Times
?Like a highly trained rapid response unit, Nicolas Kent's Tricycle Theatre again proves itself adept at seizing the moment with its latest big event? the Tricycle once again powerfully dramatises the need to understand our history in order to understand ourselves." ? Metro
?Nothing's funnier, or more frightening, than the concept of nations entitled to own nuclear weapons on the condition they don't detonate them." ? Independent
?One leaves the theatre thrilled, chilled and deeply fearful about what the future may hold." ? Daily Telegraph
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 211 mm
Width: 130 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
340 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-84943-152-1 (9781849431521)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Persons
The line up of authors for this project are second to none and include prize winning British and American playwrights. Many of the playwrights featured also wrote plays for the Great Game Afghanistan cycle of plays and have been called back to be inspired by the Nuclear Bomb.
Content
FIRST BLAST: Proliferation FROM ELSEWHERE: THE MESSAGE - 15 by Zinnie Harris CALCULATED RISK 31 by Ron Hutchinson SEVEN JOYS 51 by Lee Blessing OPTION 77 by Amit Gupta LITT LE RUSSIANS 103 by John Donnelly Second BLAST: Present Dangers THERE WAS A MAN, THERE WAS NO MAN. 133 by Colin Teevan AXIS 157 by Diana Son TALK TALK FIGHT FIGHT 173 by Ryan Craig THE LETTER OF LAST RESORT 199 by David Greig FROM ELSEWHERE: ON THE WATCH - 229 by Zinnie Harris ANADYR' 241 by Elena Gremina; translated from the Russian by Sasha Dugdale BIOGRAPHIES