Nation

Nation

Nation

From the imagination of Terry Pratchett comes “Nation”, arriving soon at the Olivier National Theatre in London. This adaptation of the latest book from the world famous author looks set to open people’s eyes to a parallel nineteenth century where stranded teenagers must learn to work together following a horrendous tsunami.

Pratchett is a best-selling author, mostly known for penning the 36 Discworld novels, of which he regularly writes many, at their height managing to complete two a year. “Nation” is one of only a few of his novels not to be part of this series, instead being set in an alternative part of our own past. Amongst his well known novels, there are “The Carpet People” (1971), “The Colour Of Magic” (the first Discworld novel – 1983), “Hogfather” (1996) and the forthcoming “Unseen Academicals” (2009).

In the parallel universe of “Nation”, we are introduced to the characters of Mau and Daphne, two teenagers who are about to be thrown together by a large tsunami that will tear through the 1860 South Pacific. The event destroys the village in which Mau lives, whilst Daphne finds herself shipwrecked on an island within the South Pacific, where she is now thousands of miles from home. When the pair meet they cannot understand each other, both speaking a different language, but they must find a way of co-existing and surviving this traumatic experience.

Soon they realise that they must create a new nation and along the way the pair learn how to survive on the island, with Mau learning more about the world around him and beginning to question what he sees, whilst Daphne milks a pig and delivers a baby.

The production has been adapted for the stage by Mark Ravenhill, who arrives at the National Theatre having penned many previous productions here. As part of the New Connections series, he created “Citizenship”, “Totally Over You” and “Scenes From Family Life”, which were all shorts designed to appeal to teenage theatregoers. However, he has also produced other plays such as “The Cut”, “Mother Clap’s Molly House” and “Shoot/Get Treasure/Repeat”, which was originally staged at the 2007 Edinburgh Fringe as “Ravenhill For Breakfast”.

“Nation” is at the Olivier National Theatre from Tuesday 24th November 2009 (previews from Wednesday 11th November 2009) to Tuesday 5th January 2010.