One Hand Clapping
Published on 9. March 2015
Book
Paperback/Softback
64 pages
978-1-4742-5380-2 (ISBN)
Description
Sometimes when I'm at work and waiting for customers I think about the two of us living like kings and not bothering about the future. Because there may not be any future to bother about, you know. Not for anybody, one of these days. And it's a wicked world.
Average couple Janet and Howard's lives begin to unravel when Howard's photographic memory helps win him a gameshow fortune.
Janet doesn't want their lives to change that much. She's quite happy working at the supermarket, cooking for her husband three times a day and watching quiz shows in the evening.
But once Howard unleashes his photographic brain on the world, the once modest used-car salesman can't seem to stop.
And what he sees as the logical conclusion to his success isn't something Janet can agree to.
Burgess's 1961 darkly comic satire of drab English consumerism is adapted for the stage by Lucia Cox. This edition was published to coincide with the US premiere at the Brits Off-Broadway Festival, at 59E59 Theatre, New York, in May 2015.
Average couple Janet and Howard's lives begin to unravel when Howard's photographic memory helps win him a gameshow fortune.
Janet doesn't want their lives to change that much. She's quite happy working at the supermarket, cooking for her husband three times a day and watching quiz shows in the evening.
But once Howard unleashes his photographic brain on the world, the once modest used-car salesman can't seem to stop.
And what he sees as the logical conclusion to his success isn't something Janet can agree to.
Burgess's 1961 darkly comic satire of drab English consumerism is adapted for the stage by Lucia Cox. This edition was published to coincide with the US premiere at the Brits Off-Broadway Festival, at 59E59 Theatre, New York, in May 2015.
Reviews / Votes
Wearing its influences on its sleeve, One Hand Clapping is an enjoyable if bitter-sweet portrait of the struggling sanctity of lifetime togetherness amidst the darker side of convenience culture. Daringly surreal and innovatively executed. * What's On Stage *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 129 mm
Thickness: 4 mm
Weight
73 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4742-5380-2 (9781474253802)
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
Anthony Burgess
One Hand Clapping
E-Book
04/2015
1st Edition
Methuen Drama
€13.99
Available for download
Anthony Burgess
One Hand Clapping
E-Book
04/2015
1st Edition
Methuen Drama
€13.99
Available for download
Persons
Anthony Burgess was born in Manchester in 1917. He was an author, poet, playwright, composer, linguist, translator and critic. Diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour in 1959, Burgess became a full-time writer and went on to write a book a year up until his death in 1993. His many works include: The Complete Enderby, Tremor of Intent and The Kingdom of the Wicked, as well as works for the stage such as Blooms of Dublin: A Musical Play Based On James Joyce's Ulysses (1986), and an adaptation of his own novel, A Clockwork Orange, produced in 1987.
Lucia Cox has a BA (Hons) in Acting and a Masters in Creative Writing. She has performed in theatre, film and on TV. She has written short films and for the theatre and for BBC Learning for which she is a regular contributor. She has also taught Acting and Creative Writing workshops at MMU and Manchester College.
Lucia Cox has a BA (Hons) in Acting and a Masters in Creative Writing. She has performed in theatre, film and on TV. She has written short films and for the theatre and for BBC Learning for which she is a regular contributor. She has also taught Acting and Creative Writing workshops at MMU and Manchester College.