Red Letter Theater Opens with the Regional Premiere of Sarah Kane's PHAEDRA'S LOVE August 27-30

Notoriously scandalous British playwright Sarah Kane radically reworks Seneca's classical tragedy of incest and unrequited lust in the highly anticipated production of Red Letter Theater's "Phaedra's Love," a brutal dark comedy exploring the themes of obsession, desire, and honesty. First debuted at the Gate, London in 1996, this regional premiere is directed and designed by Red Letter Theater Artistic Director David Hanzal, and features a host of some of the Twin Cities' favorite actors plus some wonderful new faces.

Hailed as a play "delivered with punch and laced with black humor" (Financial Times) with writing that is "both daring and accomplished" (Time Out) and bursting with "sulphurous dialogue... full of reeking toughness" (Evening Standard), Phaedra's Love is "pure theater. Or rather, impure theater: dirty, alarming, dangerous" (Observer). Phaedra's Love also serves as the inaugural production of Red Letter Theater. This activity made possible, in part, by funds provided by the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council through an appropriation by the Minnesota Legislature.

"Phaedra's Love" is Sarah Kane's contemporary, radical reworking of Seneca's classical tragedy. Hippolytus (Nicholas Leeman), the spoiled prince, is driven to a reclusive life. Emotions, love in particular, and need of any type are an unbearable threat to him. His uncontrollable sexual impulse, which would otherwise draw him into contact with others, must express itself in masturbation and the humiliation of his sexual partners. Phaedra (Heather Stone), his stepmother, is desperately in love with him. Her drive to submit herself to the impossibility of her desire, to lose herself within it, is the opposite of Hippolytus. Phaedra's longing for Hippolytus forms the second of the twin impulses that move this contemporary royal family towards a violent destruction.

With additional performances by Helen Buron, Kayla Hambek, Peter Heeringa, Eva Nelson, Jonathan Peterson, Steve Ramirez, Andrew Sass, Linda Saetre, Larissa Shea, this Red Letter production will also feature wigs by David Pipho, who previously designed for the Jungle Theater's critically-acclaimed production of "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," cutting-edge fashion designs by local artist Megan Wannarka, and an original score by experimental percussionist Dylan Jack.

"Phaedra's Love" performs August 27 - 30 at the Bryant-Lake Bowl Theater, 810 West Lake Street in Minneapolis. Tickets are $12, or $10 for students, seniors, and groups of 10 or more. For reservations, call the Bryant Lake Bowl Theater box office at (612) 825-8949. For more information, visit www.bryantlakebowl.com or www.redlettertheater.com

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