Oliver Bennett, Scarlett Saunders and James Marlowe have been cast in a new adaptation of Russian literary great, Mikhail Lermontov’s A Hero of Our Time.
A Hero of Our Time has been directed by Fringe First and Obie award-winning Belarussian director Vladimir Shcherban (BELARUS FREE THEATRE’s 4.48 Psychosis, Being Harold Pinter, Minsk 2011, Zone of Silence, New York ’79, King Lear, Price of Money and Tommorrow I Was Always A Lion).
“Was I put on this earth to destroy the hopes of others?”
Pechorin, a resting soldier, amuses himself in a dull town by competing with his friend Grushnitsky over the affections of the young princess Mary. As the game grows crueller and more calculating, intimate thoughts are laid unflinchingly bare.
Welcome into the mind of a soldier, where bars and ballrooms become battlefields.
Created by HUNCHtheatre a new international company, comprised of artists from the UK, Belarus and Columbia, A Hero Of Our Time marks the world premiere of a new adaptation of Mikhail Lermontov’s neglected 1840 novel. Following a sell-out run at the Edinburgh Fringe, it comes to the Arcola for four weeks only.
Oliver Bennet says “We have chosen to adapt the Princess Mary section of Lermontov’s novel. Over a long period of time we tried out different sections of the text to see what had the most theatrical potential. We wanted at every stage to mix nineteenth century Russia with twenty-first century London. Sometimes the script follows Lermontov’s poetic style and sometimes we use an ultra-modern slang. We mix balls and duels with modern technology to create a timeless zone. We wanted to reflect the speed and thrill of the original to make a visually, physically, verbally arresting experience. “
A Hero of Our Time is at The Arcola Theatre 19 November–15 December 2018.
