The Diary of a Madman
Photo Courtesy of BAM
Sat., Mar. 12, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.: The last runs of The Diary of a Madman at BAM. Very limited availability remains. Call Ticket Services at 718.636.4100.
“Geoffrey Rush is in exuberant form†—Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) on Geoffrey Rush
“A knockout: superbly realized, utterly mesmerizing and ultimately heartbreaking.†–ABC Arts (Australia)
“Yael Stone is superb†—The Australian (Australia)
Academy, Emmy, and Tony Award winner Geoffrey Rush (The King’s Speech, Exit the King, Broadway) comes spectacularly unglued as the lowly civil servant Poprischin, driven mad by bureaucracy in Nikolai Gogol’s darkly comic short story The Diary of a Madman, adapted for the stage by playwright David Holman with Rush and director Neil Armfield for Australia’s adventurous Belvoir (Cloudstreet, 2001 Next Wave; Exit the King, Sydney’s Belvoir St Theatre).
A burnt-out paper-pusher who ekes out a meager living in czarist St. Petersburg, Poprischin spends his days doing menial tasks, anxious and teetering on the brink of lunacy. Or is it lucidity? Immobilized by a rigid social hierarchy, Poprischin cuts adrift from reality: hallucinating a canine love affair, imagining himself well above his station, and conjuring entire realms both incredible and terrifying. Deeper and deeper he sinks into delusion, and—thanks to astonishing performances of Rush and breakthrough Australian actress Yael Stone (2011 Sydney Theater Award for Best Supporting Actress in The Diary of a Madman)—everyone is eventually subsumed by a world in which reality is, at best, relative.
BAM Harvey Theater
Approx 130min with intermission
Subscription & Theater Package Tickets:
$28—76 Sat night & Sun mat
$20—64 All other performances
(Full price: $35—95 Sat night & Sun mat
$25—80 All other performances)
Prices are subject to change.
BAM Harvey Theater
30 Lafayette Avenue
718.636.4100
bam.org
