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BURNT PIANO

by Justin Fleming

Paris, 1989. Karen Idlewild must meet Sam Beckett - for the most unusual of reasons. On a visit to Paris, and against the instinctive warnings of her father, Karen takes her nine-year-old son, Jonah, on a bizarre quest to meet Beckett - no easy mission, as the man is vigorously protected by his wife, Suzanne, and others. Buried in the adventure is Karen's need to explain a mysterious, dreadful and tragic moment in her past and that of her young son.

"Justin Fleming's BURNT PIANO is an enquiring psychological drama played out in the world of ideas while dealing more immediately with a family grappling with tragedy and fate. It is a complex, intelligent and humorous work.......The banter is intoxicating.....Burnt Piano is a very fine play." (Bryce Hallett, Sydney Morning Herald, 12 March 1999.)

"Burnt Piano is a beautifully constructed, elegiac piece of work... Fleming deftly moves between the genius oracle-figure of Karen's imagination and the reality of an old aching man...A lovely piece of theatre, well written and wonderfully performed." (Inpress, 1 September, 1999)

"While taking you on a journey of the mind, Burnt Piano blazes a path to the heart." (Uta Hagen, HB Playwrights Foundation, New York City, March 3, 2001.

StyleNaturalistic/surrealistic tragicomedy
Length110 minutes
Cast2 female, 3 male
Cast age18+
Audience ageadult
PublisherAustralian Script Centre