Love the Sinner - National Theatre (Cottesloe)
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
MATTHEW Dunster will direct Love the Sinner, a new play by Drew Pautz, which opens in the National’s Cottesloe Theatre on May 11, 2010 (previews from May 4) before continuing in repertoire.
An international group of church leaders converge in an African hotel to contend the need for Christian doctrine to change with the times. Fierce theological debate demonstrates that what’s current thinking on one continent is abhorrent to another.
In a neighbouring room, a brief sexual encounter between Joseph, a local porter, and Michael, a British conference volunteer, leads to a direct and potent challenge both to Michael, as he returns to England to grapple with ethics of his own, and to the liberal claims and professed compassion of the affluent West and its church.
Described as a tense and provocative new play, Love the Sinner considers what we may be willing to sacrifice, personally and in the public sphere, for what we believe to be right.
The cast includes Fiston Barek, Paul Bentall, Nancy Crane, Jonathan Cullen, Sam Graham, Robert Gwilym, Scott Handy, Louis Mahoney, Charlotte Randle, Ian Redford and Richard Rees.
Matthew Dunster is a director, playwright and actor, and an Associate Director of The Young Vic. His directing credits include The Frontline at Shakespeare’s Globe; Testing the Echo for Out of Joint; The Member of the Wedding and Some Voices at the Young Vic; Love and Money at the Young Vic and Royal Exchange (Olivier Award nomination); and Cruising at The Bush.
Love the Sinner is Pautz’s first play for the National Theatre. His debut play, Someone Else’s Shoes, premiered at Soho Theatre in 2007. He also co-wrote and directed Project E: An Explosion with The Work Theatre Collective and Project C on Principle at Battersea Arts Centre.
Love the Sinner will be designed by Anna Fleischle, with lighting by Philip Gladwell, music by Jules Maxwell and sound by Paul Arditti.