Girl from the North Country (NHB Modern Plays) - Softcover

Conor McPherson; Bob Dylan

3.5

153 ratings by Goodreads

9781848426559: Girl from the North Country (NHB Modern Plays)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1848426550 ISBN 13: 9781848426559

Publisher: Nick Hern Books, 2017

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'Perhaps the finest English-language playwright of his generation.' The New York Times

An electrifying new work from playwright Conor McPherson along with classic songs from Bob Dylan.

Duluth, Minnesota. 1934. A community living on a knife-edge huddle together in the local guesthouse.

The owner, Nick, owes more money than he can ever repay, his wife Elizabeth is losing her mind and their daughter Marianne is carrying a child no one will account for. So, when a preacher selling bibles and a boxer looking for a comeback show up in the middle of the night, things start to spiral beyond the point of no return

In Girl from the North Country, Conor McPherson beautifully weaves the iconic songbook of Bob Dylan into a show full of hope, heartbreak and soul. It premiered at The Old Vic, London, in 2017, also directed by Conor McPherson.

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Review:

An instant classic... A tale of heartbreak and hardscrabble, poetic but not without fun... The songs emerge out of the dialogue, lyrics interweaving with scenes in uncanny ways.... It is genius the way that McPherson has tapped into the American folk era of Woody Guthrie and hobos, something that inspired Dylan in his early freewheeling days... Dylan delights in being a spinner of legends [but] You don't need to know his songs to fall for this play. Five Stars. --The Times

Remarkable... Bob Dylan's back catalogue is used to glorious effect in Conor McPherson's astonishing cross-section of hope and stoic suffering... it is the constant dialogue between the drama and the songs that makes this show exceptional. Five Stars. --Guardian

Beguiling and soulful and quietly, exquisitely, heartbreaking. This is, in short, a very special piece of theatre. Five Stars. --Evening Standard

The idea is inspired and the treatment piercingly beautiful... two formidable artists have shown respect for the integrity of each other's work here and the result is magnificent. Five Stars. --Independent

Radiates an ineffable magic... the rare alchemy with which McPherson fuses a dustbowl drama set in Depression-era Minnesota with the keening mysticism of Dylan's back catalogue makes it almost glow. Five Stars. --Telegraph

Bewitching... Compelling.... Powerful... Extracts a Steinbeckian strand from Dylan's oeuvre... marrying the myths of Dylan and the Depression into something timeless and elegant - a stark evocation of the American fundament. --Time Out

Moody and heartfelt as an old movie, a tale harsh as Miller or Tennessee Williams, storytelling resonant and drawing deep... Dylan and McPherson are both poets. Here they meld, mesh, converse... An inspired match... A hand held to humanity... Electrifying. --Libby Purves (Theatrecat)

The play and songs weave around one another, reflecting, deepening, revealing, in exquisitely soulful harmony... shades of O'Neill and Steinbeck... dreamlike and bleakly beautiful...If you've ever struggled, loved, risked, or dreamed, then this is the show for you. It's like nothing you've ever seen, and once you've witnessed it, you'll wonder how you ever lived without it. --Broadway World

Dylan's songs illuminate the action and the characters at various intervals... This is not a musical as such but a play with songs... It works beautifully... I loved It. --Express

About the Author:

Conor McPherson's previous plays include The Weir, Dublin Carol, The Seafarer, The Veil and The Night Alive.

Bob Dylan is an American poetic songwriter, singer, painter and writer. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016.

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