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Pravda (Paperback)
Loot Price: R347
Discovery Miles 3 470
You Save: R24
(6%)
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Pravda (Paperback)
Series: Modern Classics
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List price R371
Loot Price R347
Discovery Miles 3 470
You Save R24 (6%)
Expected to ship within 10 - 15 working days
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The press and politicians. A delicate relationship. Too close, and
danger ensues. Too far apart, and democracy itself cannot function.
Pravda (which means "truth") is a satire written at the height of
Thatcherism when huge political changes were afoot. The play
essentially studies, through black humour and close scrutiny, the
tabloid ethic and the media industry as a get-rich-quick-fix. In
the programme for the original 1985 production of Pravda, Brenton
wrote: "Pravda means 'the truth'. English newspapers aren't
propaganda sheets. The question is, why do so many of them choose
to behave as if they are?" The character of Lambert Le Roux is a
South African newspaper tycoon and the owner of several companies,
striding his way through the regional papers en route to Fleet
Street. Turning broadsheets tabloid, dumbing down the message, and
stretching the truth, Le Roux takes no prisoners as he manipulates
politicians and creates a media monopoly out of a once-respected
industry. Le Roux is bent on dominating England's press as he has
elsewhere in the world. As we see Le Roux accomplish his aims, we
see also how the press is not the organ of truth we like to think
it is. The dissemination of the truth is no longer its primary goal
under the 'Lambert Le Rouxs' of our world. What is important now is
what sells. The play is an epic satire on the media in the Thatcher
era; a morality tale about how Andrew, a young liberal journalist,
finally succumbs to Le Roux, who makes him editor of a tabloid; and
- allegedly - the play is a direct representation of Rupert Murdoch
who, even in 1985, was a major force in media ownership. Howard
Brenton's and David Hare's first collaboration since Brassneck in
1973, Pravda was premiered at the National Theatre in May 1985,
starring Anthony Hopkins and directed by David Hare, and was
awarded the London Standard Best Play Award, the City Limits Best
Play Award, and the Plays and Players Best Play Award. This Modern
Classics edition features an introduction by Philip Roberts,
Emeritus Professor of Drama and Theatre Studies at the University
of Leeds, and a foreword by Jonathan Church.
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