A Mad Affair by Robert Dessaix

Internationally-renowned writer Robert Dessaix now lives in Hobart and Three River Theatre is proud to be presenting the world premiere of his first play, A Mad Affair, at the Earl Arts Centre.

Written two years ago, 3RT held the first public reading of the script, after which it went to NIDA before coming back to 3RT to be staged. The play, based on an incident in the life of the Russian writer Ivan Turgenev, is about the difference between two kinds of happiness: love and infatuation. At the play’s centre is a mad museum attendant, Vassily Ivanovich, who either hallucinates the action from the 19th century he loves so much, or misinterprets what he sees going on around him as being a visitation from the 19th century. The three main historical characters (Turgenev, the love of his life, Pauline Viardot, and the woman he is infatuated with, Marya Savina) are mirrored in the present by the mayor, the mayoress and the museum director, Darya Gavrilovna. There are also two voices of common sense, pulling the characters back to earth: Turgenev’s friend Polonsky, and the present-day museum employee Boris.

Theatrical, stylish, thought-provoking, and beautifully written, A Mad Affair promises to be a great night at the theatre!