A rich evocation of a world poised on the brink of Stalin's Great Terror, based on the 1994 Oscar-winning film written by Nikita Mikhalkov and Rustam Ibragimbekov.

General Kotov, decorated hero of the Russian Revolution, is spending an idyllic summer in the country with his beloved young wife and family. But on one glorious sunny morning in 1936, his wife's former lover returns from a long and unexplained absence. Amidst a tangle of sexual jealousy, retribution and remorseless political backstabbing, Kotov feels the full, horrifying reach of Stalin's rule.

Peter Flannery's play Burnt by the Sun was first staged at the National Theatre, London, in the Lyttelton auditorium, in March 2009, in a production directed by Howard Davies.

About the Author
Peter Flannery was writer in residence at the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1979-1980. His plays first staged by the RSC include Singer, which originally starred Antony Sher, and won the Time Out Best Play Award in 1989, and was subsequently revived by the Oxford Stage Company in 2004, starring Ron Cook; Our Friends in the North, winner of the 1982 John Whiting Award; Savage Amusement, which won the Best Play Award at the National Student Drama Festival, 1978. Other theatre includes The Bodies, adapted from Emile Zola's Therese Raquin for Live Theatre, Newcastle, in 2005. Television and film work includes The Devil's Whore (Channel 4, 2008); George Gently, adapted from the novels by Alan Hunter (BBC One, 2007); The One and Only (Pathe, 2003); Our Friends in the North (BBC Two, 1996), based on his original stage play, winner of the Writers' Guild Award for Best Original Drama Serial, the Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Writer of the Year, the BAFTA for Best Drama Serial and the Royal Television Society Writers' Award; Funny Bones with Peter Chelsom (Hollywood Pictures, 1995); Shoot the Revolution (BBC Two, 1990); and Blind Justice (BBC Two, 1988), winner of the Royal Television Society Award for Best Series and the Samuel Beckett Award.

Reviews

'A cracker... starts out like something by Chekhov and ends up as a gripping Stalinist thriller... Funny, affecting and taut with suspense, Burnt by the Sun is a new play that already feels like a classic'

* Telegraph *

'A brilliant playwriting achievement... a wonderful panoramic view of a family and its misfortune with an inexorable, gruesome dramatic tread'

* Independent *



Book Information
ISBN 9781848420441
Author Peter Flannery
Format Paperback
Page Count 96
Imprint Nick Hern Books
Publisher Nick Hern Books
Weight(grams) 109g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm * 7mm