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Gagarin Way
Gagarin Way, by Dunfermline playwright Gregory Burke, is a cruel, funny first play about a human heist gone horribly wrong.
Winner of the Meyer/Whitworth Award 2002, Winner of the Critics' Circle Award 2002 and winner of the Scotsman Fringe First of the Firsts Award 2001, Gregory Burke's 'sensational début play' (Daily Telegraph ) was premièred at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, and the Royal National Theatre, London, in 2001, transferred to the Arts Theatre, London, in 2002 and was revived for a tour of Scotland later that year.
'Tough, sardonic, nimble and brutally funny.' Sunday Times
'A blistering, brilliant, crazily confident first play. A ton of theatrical dynamite cunningly disguised as a mere Molotov cocktail.' Guardian
Winner of the Meyer/Whitworth Award 2002, Winner of the Critics' Circle Award 2002 and winner of the Scotsman Fringe First of the Firsts Award 2001, Gregory Burke's 'sensational début play' (Daily Telegraph ) was premièred at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, and the Royal National Theatre, London, in 2001, transferred to the Arts Theatre, London, in 2002 and was revived for a tour of Scotland later that year.
'Tough, sardonic, nimble and brutally funny.' Sunday Times
'A blistering, brilliant, crazily confident first play. A ton of theatrical dynamite cunningly disguised as a mere Molotov cocktail.' Guardian
112 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
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About the author
Gregory Burke
37 books7 followersGregory Burke (born 1968) is a Scottish playwright from Rosyth, Fife, Scotland.
Gregory Burke's first play was Gagarin Way, set in the factories of West Fife. His play, Black Watch, for the National Theatre of Scotland, debuted at the 2006 Edinburgh Festival, meeting with critical acclaim, and has since been performed throughout Scotland and has also toured theatres in London, Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago. He has also written Occy Eyes, The Straits, Unsecured, On Tour, Liar and Shell shocked. His most recent play was Hoors, which opened at the Traverse Theatre on 1 May 2009.
His play Black Watch won the Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award for Best Play, the South Bank Show Theatre Award in 2007 and the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play in 2009.
Gregory Burke's first play was Gagarin Way, set in the factories of West Fife. His play, Black Watch, for the National Theatre of Scotland, debuted at the 2006 Edinburgh Festival, meeting with critical acclaim, and has since been performed throughout Scotland and has also toured theatres in London, Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago. He has also written Occy Eyes, The Straits, Unsecured, On Tour, Liar and Shell shocked. His most recent play was Hoors, which opened at the Traverse Theatre on 1 May 2009.
His play Black Watch won the Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award for Best Play, the South Bank Show Theatre Award in 2007 and the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play in 2009.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 25, 2022
4.5, rounded up.
Burke seems to be the Scottish Martin McDonagh, at least on the basis of this, his debut play - which also intermingles the Irishman's signature witty dialogue with bizarre and violent circumstances. If the transliterated Scottish dialect takes some getting used to, and like most initial works, this is a bit overwritten, repetitious, and could have used some judicious editing - it is a deft and daft exploration of political fanaticism - perhaps something of an anachronism 21 years ago, but all too prevalent nowadays, at least in the US (hello, Magats!). And how can one resist a play that starts out with a young security guard and a more seasoned factory worker debating the finer points of the relationship of Sartre to Genet. Bonkers!
It is indeed sad that the once prolific Burke seems to have abandoned playwriting, not producing any theatrical works since 2009.
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/201...
https://www.britishtheatreguide.info/...
https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-cul...
Burke seems to be the Scottish Martin McDonagh, at least on the basis of this, his debut play - which also intermingles the Irishman's signature witty dialogue with bizarre and violent circumstances. If the transliterated Scottish dialect takes some getting used to, and like most initial works, this is a bit overwritten, repetitious, and could have used some judicious editing - it is a deft and daft exploration of political fanaticism - perhaps something of an anachronism 21 years ago, but all too prevalent nowadays, at least in the US (hello, Magats!). And how can one resist a play that starts out with a young security guard and a more seasoned factory worker debating the finer points of the relationship of Sartre to Genet. Bonkers!
It is indeed sad that the once prolific Burke seems to have abandoned playwriting, not producing any theatrical works since 2009.
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/201...
https://www.britishtheatreguide.info/...
https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-cul...
May 13, 2010
It’s hard to review this play. It’s written by a Scottish playwright and set in Fife, so it’s nice to finally read something that is geographically relevant. But, my God! There is so much swearing in it. I’m not even opposed to swearing. I swear like a sailor and for the most part don’t give a shit when people do it and it would be very, very hard to shock me by swearing. But in every line of every page of this play, three of the ten words would be swearwords! I’ve never heard the word cunt said so much in my life.
That said, it was an interesting play. It’s easy to read because the dialogue is doing ingeniously. Burke definitely has an affinity for writing dialogue which makes me jealous. The play has four characters, two who are conducting a human heist, one who is kidnapped and one who is thrown to the mix accidentally. It makes some interesting comments on our society.
That said, it was an interesting play. It’s easy to read because the dialogue is doing ingeniously. Burke definitely has an affinity for writing dialogue which makes me jealous. The play has four characters, two who are conducting a human heist, one who is kidnapped and one who is thrown to the mix accidentally. It makes some interesting comments on our society.
June 1, 2008
Two would-be anarchists kidnap a company rep in order to get their point across. A fellow employee stumbles upon the caper and heated discussions regarding economic, social and political theories ensue.
Not being well-versed in communist or anarchist theory, I found some of the ideas put forth in this work a little hard to follow but still extremely interesting. I love that in the end the violence that results has nothing to do with meeting the kidnappers' stated ends and everything to do with man's inherent violence.
Not being well-versed in communist or anarchist theory, I found some of the ideas put forth in this work a little hard to follow but still extremely interesting. I love that in the end the violence that results has nothing to do with meeting the kidnappers' stated ends and everything to do with man's inherent violence.
January 25, 2014
A really funny, crude, dark black comedy that I thoroughly enjoyed. It took me a while to get into reading the way Burke transliterated the Fife accent (I'm more used to hearing it) but once you do it suits the tone of the text.
May 6, 2011
Still not sure what I thought of this play even after the tutorial. It was really interesting to read but I'm not sure what the conclusion or point was. Going for 6/10 for now.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews