Sex, guns and language tapes
Hungary. April 1999. NATO is bombing Kosovo and Serbia. Robert Lee, a young American researcher, is travelling through Eastern Europe. In Budapest he enrols in a language school and becomes obsessed with Anna, his language teacher. They embark on a passionate sexual relationship. When he goes to visit her home town of Szeged, close to the Serbian border, he is drawn into a dangerous and terrifying underworld in which he is forced to confront the other men in Anna`s life: James, an English art dealer, and Milan, a Serb with scores to settle and deals to close.
Sexual obsession, political intrigue and shifting identities lead to an eruption of brutal violence - which forces Robert to confront aspects of his own identity that he would rather ignore. The sound of NATO Chinooks echoes through the night. A black male prostitute and an icon of a Black Madonna go about their strange business.
Who is watching? Who is waiting?
Double Tongue was commissioned with an Arts Council New Writing Award and was originally presented as part of the European Year of Languages 2001 at the Old Red Lion, London. Presented by Border Crossings in association with the Hungarian Cultural Centre. Video material available on request.
The international cast includes Hungarian actress Krisztina Erdelyi, Serbo-Croat actor Serge Soric, and Arnie Hewitt in the dual role of B and the Black Madonna. Double Tongue is directed by Border Crossings` award-winning artistic director Michael Walling, and designed by Japanese artist Kimie Nakano.
Brian Woolland`s previous work for theatre includes “Getting Over You” (Etcetera Theatre 1995, revived in Hungary 1996), “Treason`s Peace”, and a trilogy of plays for Spiral Theatre Company written in more than one European language: “Away Games” (150+ performances in Southampton, Liverpool, France and Germany), “Perpetual Motion” and “Streetwise in Paradise” (Southampton, France and Spain).
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See the reviews for Double Tongue (2001-2)
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Buy the text of Double Tongue (2001-2)
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