The
Dead Eye Boy
A
Play by Angus MacLachlan
Here's
all the news about this startling play.
Image from Hampstead Theatre Site.
Click here to connect to details about the performances at
London's
Hampstead Theatre running January 21-February 9, 2002.
Jump right to the links for the exciting reviews.
|
Photos from the Hampstead Theatre production January-February 2002 with apologies to the photographers - scans from newspapers seldom turn out well |
 Tragic pairing...Sid Mitchell and Nicola Walker in The Dead Eye Boy at Hampstead Theatre Photograph: Tristram Kenton appeared in The Guardian January 22, 2002 |
 A realism disturbing to witness: Nicola Walker and Brendan Coyle Photograph: Alistair Muir appeared in the Evening Standard, January 22, 2002 |
 Badly drawn boy: Brendan Coyle (left), Sid Mitchell and Nicola Walker Photograph: Geraint Lewis appeared in The Independant January 23, 2002 |
"The American actor-playwright Angus MacLachlan makes a masterful British
debut
with this tragic, brutally truthful, shocking and tender play."
~John Peter, London Sunday Times, January 2002
This very striking and
accomplished play deserves a Gotham outing...
This play works because
while it doesn't judge its hard-scrabble characters,
it provides a clear, moral
point of view."
~VARIETY, April 2000
A haunting new drama by Angus MacLachlan, is a hard-edged drama about an ex-Marine and a single mother, recovering addicts desperate to exchange their drug dependency for a brighter new life together. However, the woman's 14-year old son is, at best, indifferent to the marriage. Injured by the drugs in
his mother's womb, he is a deeply troubled boy who's been raised in an emotional vacuum where verbal and physical abuse often pass for, are even welcomed as, affection. His needs and the demons that chase each of these three hungry souls are at the center of this powerful new play about life in a seldom-portrayed and
all too real part of America.
from Theatre.com
Photographs by Joan Marcus
Graphic from MCC Theatre Site
The Dead Eye Boy was nominated for
Best New Play by the American Theatre Critics Association in the Spring of 2001.
Read about it here.
Lili Taylor and Aaron Himmelstein were nominated for Drama Desk awards in the Spring of 2001. Article listed below.
A Bit About Angus
ANGUS MACLACHLAN graduated from the North Carolina School of the Arts Drama School. He has acted with Charlotte Repertory Theatre, Manbites Dog Theatre, Barter Theatre, North Carolina Black Repertory Theatre, and has appeared in CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD, MASTER HAROLD AND THE BOYS, HOLIDAY, THE SUBSTANCE OF FIRE, and THE TEMPEST. He created the role of Oscar Wilde in the premiere of Romulus Linney's OSCAR OVER HERE for Manbites Dog Theatre, and won a Best Supporting Actor award from Creative Loafing Magazine for his portrayal of Louis in the landmark production of both parts of ANGELS IN AMERICA for Charlotte Repertory Theatre.
Among the plays he has written are DIVERTIMENTO, ARIADNE DUVALL, and BEHOLD, ZEBULON. He has also written and performed 3 one man shows - BOUND AND GAGGED, BUENA VISTA, and MARGINAL LIVING. An 18-minute short film he wrote, TATER TOMATER, was directed by Phil Morrison and aired on American Playhouse, and screened at the '92 Sundance Film Festival.
Other plays include TEX'S DREAM, WILLY-NILLY, CATTYCORNERED, and BRIDGE. Among his screenplays are VETVILLE, CRISIS CONTROL, and DIVERTIMENTO. His play THE DEAD EYE BOY was selected as the 2000 Lois and Richard Rosenthal New Play Prize Award Winner and given a full production and premiere in March of 2000 by Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. BRIDGE won the 2000 New Works prize presented by Actor's Theatre of Santa Rosa. In April of 2001 Manhattan Class Company will produce THE DEAD EYE BOY, starring Lili Taylor, as part of their three-play season, Off Broadway. It will be produced in London in the Spring of 2002 at the Hampstead Theatre Club.
from Charlotte Rep New Play Festival Newsletter
'That Moves Me'
By JESSE MCKINLEY
New York Times
10/27/2000
[performance dates in this article are incorrect]
Pic credit Robert Gilberg/ Studios USA Televsion
Lili Taylor is to return to the stage in February in "The Dead Eye Boy." It has been three years since Lili Taylor, who has built a film career out of gritty characterizations, made her Broadway debut in a star-studded, critically slammed production of Chekhov's "Three Sisters," at the Roundabout Theater Company. Now she's coming back to the stage in something closer to her tastes.
Beginning in February, Ms. Taylor will be seen Off Broadway in "The Dead Eye Boy," at the MCC Theater on West 28th Street. In the play, by Angus MacLachlan, Ms. Taylor portrays a single mother battling with a drinking problem, a sketchy boyfriend and a pubescent son.
A Chicago native, Ms. Taylor, 33, has a long connection to the stage. A member of the Naked Angels theater company, she got strong reviews in 1993 in the acclaimed "Aven' U Boys." As for "Dead Eye Boy," Ms. Taylor said the script reminded her of "older Sam Shepard."
"I
think what grabbed me is the struggle of the characters," she said. "How
they were trying their best. That moves me, even when there are obstacles
they're not going to overcome."