Duke Department of Theater Studies to Present
World Premiere of Shadow of HimselfDurham, N.C. – The Duke Department of Theater Studies is pleased to announce the world premiere production of Shadow of Himself by award-winning playwright and faculty member Neal Bell. The play will run April 5 – 15, 2007 at Sheafer Theater on Duke’s west campus in Durham, N.C.
In Shadow of Himself, Bell has chosen Gilgamesh, one of the world’s earliest known literary works, as a springboard to examine our troubled times. “I was fascinated at its relevance 30 years ago when I first read Gilgamesh,” says Bell. “At the beginning of recorded history, humans were wrestling with the same issues that challenge us now. Our ability to delude ourselves goes all the way back. What makes the parallel even more insistent is that the story takes place in the same area of the world where we currently find ourselves wrestling—in modern-day Iraq.”
While the play is based on the ancient tale of Gilgamesh and Bell uses the early literary device of the Chorus as narrator, Shadow of Himself is sprinkled with modern references like singles bars, speed dating, root canals, and blow-dryers. The juxtaposition of contemporary references with the old story provides both surprise and humor. But humor, says Bell, is not just comic relief, but a conscious way of getting into darker subject matter.
Shadow of Himself is directed by Jody McAuliffe, also a faculty member in the Duke Department of Theater Studies. McAuliffe wanted to direct Bell's play because of its relevance. “It's about a leader with a restless heart who behaves as if he's a god, even though he's mortal” she says. “First he convinces his best friend that the guardian of the sacred wood is evil, based on faulty evidence. Then he invades his presumed enemy's territory without justification and slays him. In so doing he brings the wrath of the gods down on himself and his best friend. This reminds me of something contemporary.”
Shadow of Himself
Sheafer Theater, Bryan Center, West Campus
April 5-7, April 12-14 at 8:00 p.m. and April 7 & 15 at 2:00 p.m.
Tickets: $10.00 general admission; $7.00 students and senior citizens
tickets: www.tickets.duke.edu, 919-684-4444
www.duke.edu/web/theaterstudies for more info
