The Underground Man
adapted for the stage
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- $4.99
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
A life of fascination, obsession and deep scientific curiosity.
William Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck is an eccentric Nottinghamshire aristocrat whose imagination and curiosity know no bounds. This deceptively simple man struggles to come to terms with a world that is teeming with new knowledge, ill-founded opinion and gossip.
Why does he hide himself away? What is his fascination with tunnels? Will he ever unearth the secrets hidden in his memory?
In a sequence of events that are often curious and frequently hilarious he reveals moments of surprising perception and wisdom.
Nottingham Playhouse and ajtc have combined their talents to co-produce Nick Wood’s stage adaptation of Mick Jackson’s Booker Prize shortlisted novel. The result is a free-flowing, innovative performance which features live music and a specially commissioned score.
The Underground Man is a delectable blend of fact and fiction in which the intriguing details of a complex life are richly explored through the vibrant imagination of a gentle soul.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"I have no idea how an apple tree works. The quiet machine beneath the bark is quite beyond my ken. But, like the next man along, my Imagination is willing to jump into Ignorance's breach...." So begin the fictionalized journals of William John Cavendish Bentinck-Scott, fifth Duke of Portland (1800-1879), best remembered for having, in real life, dug a complex network of tunnels beneath his estate in England. Jackson intersperses historical anecdote with pure invention in his exploration of the reclusive Duke's life. Most of the book is composed of diary entries in which the Duke muses about such things as an encounter with two young children playing a game, his passion for cartography and the interior of his lungs. Mixed in with these firsthand accounts are the reports of others: an artist who works for the Duke, various servants and random near-acquaintances ("A Local Woman's Account"). What emerges is less a traditional plot than the portrait of a mind as mazy as the tunnels it loves. Though appealing for its quirkiness, the diary can be a frustrating read. Without their dates, the entries might be rearranged entirely, and it is difficult to glean any sense of progress toward a final outcome. The rich metaphor of the tunnels is in the end underexplored; the duke remains underground in more ways than one.
