Twenty-Twenty is a ninety-minute play by Paddy
Gormley on the theme of love and loss.
“The plot was a delightful
jigsaw puzzle
that came together before us.
Random scenes that were difficult to thread together
coalesced to a wonderfully complete vision.”
(feedback from the Bridewell Theatre reading, February 2002:
click here for further audience comments)
Alec, teacher and failed composer, returning
from his father's funeral, reflects on his own life, consumed
with self-hatred and bitterness and tormented by the past.
The ghosts of three former lovers, Belinda
(1960), Natasha (1980) and Lucy (2000) return to haunt
him, forcing him to confront the deep, dark secrets that have
shaped his life so cruelly.
Paddy Gormley has recently withdrawn the play. He plans a substantially revised version, to be launched in 2020.
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Twenty-Twenty has undergone significant
development with the help of three rehearsed readings, Bridewell
Theatre 2002 and Actors and Writers
London (2001& 2005), starring Rosalind
Adler and Peter Luke Kenny and
directed by Kirsty Bennett. The feedback
from the audience of theatre professionals at these readings
suggests that this is a project with significant
potential as both stage play and film.
The play is essentially a two-hander (man & woman), with
incidental parts for a third (male) actor. The three women, all
aged 40, are played by the same actress. The male lead is ostensibly
60, but also appears aged 40 and 20.
Twenty-Twenty is written in
proseverse, a style of writing pioneered by Paddy Gormley since
1995. The text is designed to sound like normal prose, but
the language of the play is heightened by the use of subtle
rhythmic patterns and hidden rhymes. See Paddy Gormley's Exciting
Writing website for further details. |
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