Is God Is / What to Send Up When It Goes Down
8 Sep 2022Size: 215mm x 136mm£21.99
Is God Is / What to Send Up When It Goes Down
Two Plays
Paperback £21.99
Two extraordinary plays from a bright new talent in American theatre.
Is God Is follows two twin sisters who undertake a dangerous journey to exact revenge upon their father at the behest of their ailing mother. Drawing on a diverse set of influences, including ancient tragedy, absurdism, Spaghetti Westerns, and Afropunk, Aleshea Harris's play is an explosive epic that examines the cyclical nature of violence.
Is God Is had its world premiere at Soho Rep., New York, in February 2018, winning the Relentless Award, and the Obie Award for Playwriting. It received its British premiere in the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in September 2021, directed by Ola Ince.
It is also available in a single-play edition published by Nick Hern Books.
What to Send Up When It Goes Down uses a series of vignettes made up of songs, soliloquies and dialogues that range from the satirical to the sorrowful in order to highlight anti-blackness in American society. The audience is invited to take part in rituals in order to act as witnesses to the effects of violence sparked by racism and to seek ways to collectively heal.
What To Send Up When It Goes Down was premiered at the Movement Theatre Company at A.R.T./New York Theatres in New York City in November 2018.
'A snarly new master of high-octane carnage has risen into view… putting her own audacious stamp on that most venerable of pop genres… Is God Is sees fit to bring down the house'
New York Times'Aleshea Harris is an arsonist of a playwright. By the end of Is God Is, I found I was shaking and overwhelmed by the play's incendiary power... not since the first night of Sarah Kane's Blasted have I felt so annihilated by a play... [an] original, entertaining and sickening bloodbath of a drama'
Observer'What to Send Up When It Comes Down is an electric, uncompromising, and powerfully moving work that will rock you to your core'
Boston Globe'If you're a lover of theater, looking for signs of fresh and original and in-the-moment life on the American stage, you need to see What to Send Up'
New York Times8 Sep 2022Size: 215mm x 136mm£21.99
