What are People Saying About it?

Key Quotes:

"Blackbird is theater at its most elemental"
The New York Times

"Provocative and worthwhile. And Harrower is definitely a name to watch."
NY Daily News

"This is an extraordinary, no-holds-barred drama that both chills and thrills."
London Telegraph

Read the full reviews:
Not this time, we don’t want to give anything away!

Who’s the Playwright?

David Harrower

David Harrower was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1966. He is the author of several original plays, including Knives in Hens (1995), Kill The Old Torture Their Young (1998), Presence (2001), Dark Earth (2003), and 365 (2008). Harrower’s most recent short play, "Lucky Box," opened in Glasgow in March, 2009. He has adapted Pirandello's Six Characters In Search of An Author, Buchner's Woyzeck, Chekhov’s Ivanov, Horvath's Tales from the Vienna Woods, and Schiller's Mary Stuart. Blackbird was commissioned by the Edinburgh International Festival and premiered at the King's Theatre in August 2005. It won Best New Play at the 2007 Laurence Olivier Awards. A film version of Blackbird is being produced by Jean Douminian Productions. Harrower lives in Glasgow.

Play Notes

Behind the Names

As mentioned in the program notes, Harrower didn’t know about the story of St. Benedict when he titled the play “Blackbird” but when he later discovered the story, he said he wished he’d known about it. If you’re not familiar with it, check out this link.

There’s also another saintly blackbird story, but this one’s Irish, and with no sexual overtones. Here’s a link to the story of Saint Kevin and the blackbird.

In both stories, the blackbird showed up when the saints were living in isolation.

Another meaning of “blackbird” comes from the 1800s. Queensland (now part of Australia) needed workers for their plantations, and from 1860-1901 they “recruited” Pacific Islanders by trickery. Thousands of Pacific Islanders were “blackbirded” from their homes. One descendant explains: “They were offered trinkets and pretty things. I've even heard of people off the ships dressing as priests or ministers, uh...missionaries, and encouraging them to follow them.” For more information see: World Wide Words and ABC.

One last thing about the title…. According to a “massive new study that has collected data from more than 2,300 blackbird nests over the past fifteen years, 89% of blackbird nest failures in the U.K. are attributed to predators.” Click here for more information.

Una
The name Una has many connotations. From the Latin, Una means “one.” From Gaelic, the name can mean “hunger” or “famine.” In Native American Hopi language, the name can mean “remember.” In Spenser’s epic poem The Faerie Queen, Una was the name of the fair princess who saves the Red Crosse Knight. Una represents truth in the story. In Irish legend, Una is part of a tragic love story. Una Bahn loved Tomas Laidir Costello, but her parents did not approve, so Tomas left, saying he would return only if her parents asked him to come back before he crossed the river. Her parents called him back, but not before he got to the river, so, being a man of honor, he could not return. Una died of grief. The story of Una and Tomas is the subject of a many-versed Irish lament. Some of the lyrics can be found here.

Questions To Consider Post-Show

• Why does Una come to see Ray? What does she want from him? Does she ever get what she wants?
• An old proverb explains that “every coin has two sides.” Blackbird explores both Una’s version and Ray’s version of their history. Which version of reality do you believe? Why?
• In the stage directions, Harrower writes that the floor should be full of abandoned trash. How do Una and Ray each react to the litter on stage? How does the litter function as a metaphor in this play?
• What course do you think the story would have taken if Ray had returned immediately after he bought cigarettes?
• At the end of the play, what future do you envision for the characters in Blackbird?
• Both Una and Ray have professionals try to help them recover from their past. How successful are these attempts?
• Is it possible for a romantic relationship to have existed between Ray and Una?
• What impact did design (costume, light, scenery, and sound) have in this production?
• Many reviewers compare Harrower’s writing style to Pinter. Harrower says that he wrote the play “in a language that indicated these two characters’ mental state, so the language in effect reflects the fact that they are circling around something. They can’t finish sentences they can’t be too definite, because if they are definite about something, they don’t know what effect it’s going to have on the other person.” What effect does this style of dialogue have?
• Consider how Blackbird is similar and different in theme to Mamet’s Oleanna, Vogel’s How I Learned to Drive, Albee’s The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?, Shepard’s Fool for Love, and Moran’s The Tricky Part.