Nation Tickets

Terry Pratchett’s “Nation” comes to the stage of the Olivier National Theatre in November 2009. This adaptation, by Mark Ravenhill, of the latest novel by Britain’s best loved author tells of a parallel nineteenth century where two culturally-different people are thrust together under extraordinary circumstances.

Although not part of his famous “Discworld” series, “Nation” is the latest in a long line of successful novels penned by the world famous Pratchett. It is set in 1860, where a large and powerful tsunami tears apart the communities of the South Pacific and sets in motion a chain of events that will change lives. Amongst the mess is Mau, whose village has been completely destroyed by the storm, as well as Daphne, who finds herself shipwrecked on the island, hundreds of miles from the place she calls home. The pair must learn to survive together, but this will be no easy task when neither of them speak the same language.

But they persevere, building a life for themselves where Daphne finds herself learning to milk a pig and deliver a baby, whilst Mau goes out and discovers a whole new way of looking at the world, where he can question the ideals and beliefs that have been laid down before him.

“Nation” is Pratchett’s first novel since 1996’s “Johnny And The Bomb” to exist outside of the “Discworld” universe. He penned it with the announcement that more “Discworld” novels would appear when he writes them, promising fans that he will add to the 36 novels already out there. He has been a published writer since 1971 with the publication of “The Carpet People” and has produced an enormous amount of work since. The first “Discworld” book appeared in 1983 under the title “The Colour Of Magic” and since then he has produced novels such as “Hogfather” (1996), “Nightwatch” (2002) and the forthcoming “Unseen Academicals” (2009).

Adapting his work in this instance is Mark Ravenhill, who returns to the National Theatre following his work writing teenage theatre for the New Connections series, which included “Citizenship”, “Totally Over You” and “Scenes From Family Life”. He is an acclaimed writer whose other work includes “The Cut” and “Shoot/Get Treasure/Repeat”, which was originally seen at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2007.

“Nation” appears at the Olivier National Theatre starting Tuesday 24th November 2009 (previews from Wednesday 11th November 2009) and continuing to Tuesday 5th January 2010.