Synopsis "Katori Hall Plays One: 1 (Contemporary Dramatists)"
An important new voice for African-American theatre, Katori Hall explores the lives of black and often invisible Americans with vivid language, dynamic narratives and richly textured characterisation. Hoodoo Love is Hall's debut play, a tale of love, magic, jealousy and secrets in 1930s Memphis, written in vivid language which captures the spirit of the Blues. Saturday Night/Sunday Morning is set in a Memphis beauty shop/boarding house during the final days of WWII. Rich with humor and history, it is a story about friendship and finding love in unexpected places. Winner of the Olivier Award for Best New Play 2009, The Mountaintop is a historical-fantastical two hander, portraying the penultimate day in the life of Martin Luther King. Hurt Village won the 2011 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Set in a real-life Memphis housing project, it explores in vivid and at times brutal detail a long-lasting legacy of drug abuse, child abuse, crime, and self-hatred within a poor, working-class, multi-generational Black family. This first collection of Katori Hall's dramatic works demonstrate her unique voice for the theatre, which is visceral, passionate and energetic. Hall portrays disenfranchised portions of society with fearless humanity and startling accomplishment.
