(Circle Dreams Around) The Terrible, Terrible Past
JULY 2024
Regent Street Blackbox, Eccles Theatre
BLKBOX's first production was the domestic premiere of Simon Longman's groundbreaking play (Circle Dreams Around) The Terrible Terrible Past, directed by Lise Thornton
Someone has a recurring dream. And the dream feels like a circle - going round and round with the past chasing the present into the future and back to the start again. Which means that we’re stuck in the dream too, watching it with them. It always starts with someone selling crabs and it all gets progressively surreal from there-adding to the mix a butcher, a career counselor, and a fish in search of water. A play about the experience and expectations involved with growing up and the circularity of human existence. And there doesn't seem to be a way out.
Presented by:
BLK BOX LAB, Youth Program in partnership with Sting and Honey, Resident Company at Regent Street Black Box, Eccles Theatre SLC, Utah
Recommended for ages 14+; Content guidance:
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Strong language.
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A brief reference to substance abuse.
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One brief, mildly sexually explicit conversation.
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The following are seen within the context of the dream: a dead body covered in blood, and weapons including an ax, a meat cleaver and a bolt gun.
Simon Longman is a playwright from the UK, West Midlands. His plays include Patient Light for Eastern Angles; Island Town for Paines Plough; Gundog for Royal Court; Rails for Theatre at the Lake; White Sky for Royal Welch College of Music & Drama/Royal Court; Sparks for Old Red Lion; Milked for Pentabus Theatre Company. He is the recipient of the forty-ninth George Devine Award for Most Promising Playwright and has previously won the Channel 4 Playwrights’ Scheme. His work has been translated and produced internationally. He is represented by Blue Posts Management Limited.
Script from The National Theatre Connections 2023 collection of commissioned scripts for young people. “...stories for and about young people that challenge them to experience life in someone else’s shoes, and transport them to different times, places, and emotional landscapes.” Kirsten Adams, Head of Young People Programmes, November 2022