Rude Guerrilla opens “Knives in Hens” Friday, May 20!

Rude Guerrilla Theater Company is pleased to announce playwright David Harrower’s 1995 drama Knives in Hens as the fifth production of its eighth season. An uneducated young woman, trapped by marriage in a closed and superstitious community, develops an intense relationship with the village outcast. Sensuality and poetic language combine to make this a seductive tale of solitude, sexuality and intellectual awakening. Warning: This play contains nudity and sexual situations.

Directed by RGTC Member Scott Barber, the production opens Friday, May 20th and runs for a total of twelve performances thru Saturday, June 11 at The Empire Theater, 200 N. Broadway, in Santa Ana. Show times are Friday and Saturday nights at 8:00 pm and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. A single Thursday night show is scheduled for June 9th at 8:00 pm. Audience question-and-answer talk-backs will be Saturday, May 28th and Saturday, June 4th, following the show. $20 Opening Night Gala ticket includes champagne and munchies. For all other performances, tickets are $18 general admission, $15 for seniors and $10 for students with an ID.

David Harrower was born and brought up in Edinburgh, Scotland. He now lives and writes in Glasgow. Knives in Hens (The Traverse/Bush Theatre 1995) was his first professional production: a brilliant theatrical debut that proved a critical and popular success. It was revived at The Traverse in 1997 and received its German premiere where it won Best Foreign Play (Critics Award) 1997. It has been translated for performance in France, Holland, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Greece Scandinavia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Estonia and Slovenia. Other work includes: adaptation of John Wyndham’s The Chrysalids (BT National Connections), Libretto for the opera Cat Man’s Tales (UK tour 1997) and a play for BBC Radio 4: 54% Acrylic.

David’s second original stage play Kill the Old Torture Their Young premiered at the Traverse Theatre Edinburgh in 1998 and won the Meyer Whitworth Prize in 1999.

In 2001, his adaptations of Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author and Buchner’s Woycek were produced at the Young Vic Theatre in London and the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh respectively and his new original play Presence was produced by the Royal Court Theatre, London. His English language version of Jon Fosse’s The Girl on the Sofa was presented by the Edinburgh International Festival in August 2002. His translation of Chekhov’s Ivanov opened at the National Theatre in September 2002.

He has just completed a screenplay and is also under commission to The Royal Court Theatre, The National Theatre and The Royal Shakespeare Company.

“The first time I read Knives in Hens, I was immediately enthralled by the compelling visual element of the script. It’s a rare occurrence when a play’s dialogue and its stage pictures are structured so subtly and yet say so very much,” says director Barber. “The beautifully vicious progression of its young protagonist’s imagination as her hunger for knowledge takes over her life garnered many post-rehearsal discussions. I’m excited to hear the heated conversations after audiences get their hands on this one.”

The cast of three includes Rude Guerrilla Theater Company members Vince Campbell (last seen in Dinner With Ribbentrop) and Aurelio Locsin (last seen in New Jersey Trilogy). Returning to the Empire Theater is Christine Tanabe (last seen in Collateral Damage).

If you'd like to arrange an interview with the playwright, cast or director, or just want more information, reservations or complimentary press passes, please call 714-547-4688 or send us an email at Rudegrrlla@Aol.com