Attempts On Her Life

Sorry, this event’s been and gone

When:

Thu 4 Jun ’09, 8:00pm	Saving
Fri 5 Jun ’09, 8:00pm	Saving
Sat 6 Jun ’09, 8:00pm	Saving

Where: Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts, Gate 2B, Knighton Rd, University of Waikato, Hamilton Show map

Restrictions: R15

Ticket Information:

Non Student: $10.00
Student: $6.00
Booking fees may apply

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Attempts to describe her? Attempts to destroy her? Or attempts to destroy herself? Is Anne the object of violence? Or its terrifying practitioner? Martin Crimp’s 17 scenarios for the theatre, shocking and hilarious by turn, are a rollercoaster of early 21st century obsessions. From ethnic violence to pornography, from terrorism to singles vacations…. its strange array of nameless characters attempt to invent the perfect story to encapsulate our time. Since its premiere at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in March 1997, Attempts on her Life has been translated into more than 20 languages.

This is an enigmatic play: each scenario can be played by a varying number of speakers, there is no plot, the script only designates a change of speaker, there are virtually no stage directions….all a matter interpretation. What holds the seventeen ‘scenarios for the theatre’ together is their subject: the mysterious Anne/Annie/Anya/Annushka. Over the course of the play Anne never appears; instead various figures discuss her life. Anne could perhaps be an international terrorist, a victim of violence, an underage porno star or even an expensive car. In the end, we can’t be sure if she is any of these… a missing person, the girl next door, or even dead or alive, real or fictional.

Theatre meets art installation meets multi-media… Attempts on Her Life is a boundary-breaking work that has been hailed throughout Europe as a performance masterpiece. Attempts on Her Life leaves us guessing – and guessing about our own reality in the age of global capital and media culture.

Attempts on her Life is not about discovering the truth of Anne’s identity, but the process by which we discover the truth. The play is after the big question: How is it that we come to know the Other? Crimp suggests that the process of knowing is never a neutral one, and in fact that the subject perpetuates a violence on the object that it seeks to know. It is no coincidence that the object of investigation in this play is a woman, since the female Other has been the object of the male gaze since time immemorial.