The Man Who Was Thursday
Spring 2001
UK tour
The Man Who Was Thursday is a surreal thriller set in London at the turn of the century. Chesterton’s spy fantasy is considered by many to be his masterpiece. The story’s hero, Gabriel Syme, an undercover detective, infiltrates a secret council of revolutionaries, named after the days of the week. The group, led by the terrifying and grotesque ‘Sunday’ is dedicated to the destruction of society. Syme, posing as an anarchist, gets himself voted onto the council as the new ‘Thursday’ and sets out to foil their evil plans and single-handedly save his world. On the perilous journey that follows, we encounter farcical events, a twisting plot and a series of dramatic revelations which crank up the tension as the true identities of the council are revealed one-by-one.
Staged with a cast of four actors making lightning-quick changes in and out of costume and masks, and employing a cartoon-style ‘cut-out’ design of racing cars, balloons, trains and spinning tables, the production moved at break-neck speed, exploring the fear and loathing of terrorism and the way the state creates the illusion of ‘foreign’ conspiracies to keep its population in awe.