Ann Henning Jocelyn

The Luminous Darkness: On Jon Fosse's Theatre

Ann Henning Jocelyn

When Jon Fosse had his playwright début with And We Shall Never Part at the National Theatre in Bergen in 1994, he was already an established author of several novels, collections of poetry and children’s books. Since his breakthrough in 1996 with the world premiere of Someone Will Arrive at the Norwegian Theatre he has written over twenty more plays and has become the world’s most performed contemporary European playwright. Oberon Books publishes Nightsongs , The Girl on the Sofa and I Am the Wind , together with his other plays in five collections. Fosse was made a Chevalier of the Ordre national du Mérite of France in 2007 and received The International Ibsen Award in 2010.

Doonreagan

Ann Henning Jocelyn

Doonreagan House in Cashel, Connemara, for many years home to the author of this play, was where future Poet Laureate Ted Hughes took refuge in the late 1960s, after the death of his wife Sylvia Plath. With him were his two young children by Sylvia, as well as his lover Assia Wevill and baby daughter Schura. Doonreagan explores the doomed relationship between Ted and Assia during their brief but intense spell in Connemara: an ultimate test of conjugality and family life, at which neither of them had excelled so far. Based on years of personal research and experience, Doonreagan opens up new angles on this tragic triangle drama and the mystery of Sylvia Plath's death.