WHO KILLED MY FATHER
An intimate declaration of love from son to father and a defiant call for social justice
Based on the book by Édouard Louis, translated by Lorin Stein
Growing up gay in a small town in France, Édouard endured the violence and homophobia of his alcoholic, right-wing father, a factory worker. In 2000, his father suffered an accident in the workplace which left him bedbound and on morphine for the pain.
Now, Édouard confronts his father, who, barely fifty years old, can hardly walk or breathe. Uncovering a startling connection between political decisions and his father’s broken body, Édouard’s anger transforms to compassion. His father’s capacity for violence appears to be the product of years of social brutality.
Louis sets about rewriting the recent social and political history of France, exposing how the consequences of neo-liberal ‘reforms’ inflicted on the lives of workers are lived out in their own bodies.
WHO KILLED MY FATHER is an intimate declaration of love from son to father and a defiant call for social justice.
Scottish & UK Premiere: Thursday 12th May 2022, Tron Theatre, Glasgow as part of Mayfesto 2022 (UK)
Spring Tour of Scotland 2023: Cumbernauld Theatre, An Tobar and Mull Theatre, Dumfries Theatre Royal, The Byre theatre, Traverse Theatre, MacArts, Platform Theatre, Beacon Arts Centre, Universal Hall, An Lanntair, Eden Court, The Lemon Tree.
Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2023: Summerhall Old Lab 22nd - 27th August 2023
Author: Édouard Louis
Translator: Lorin Stein
Set & Costume Co-Designers: Hazel Low & Blythe Brett
Lighting Designer: Joshua Gadsby
Sound Designer and Composer: XANA
Dramaturg: Matthew Evans
Production Manager: Elle Taylor
Stage Manager: Louise Gregory
Assistant Producer: Eilidh Northridge
Associate Producer: Corinne Salisbury
Marketing Associate: Graham Webster
Adaptor and Director: Nora Wardell
Édouard: Michael Marcus
surrogate(s) 2022: Esmé Babineaux
Tiger Mitchell
Nadine Maniati
surrogate(s) 2023: Mikael Phillips, Bo Hogan, Lintong Zhang, Scott Thomson, Callum Bell, Keira Smith, Sam Allen, Catriona Kirk, Catriona Hill, Angelina Nayar, Caitlin Wallace, Kit Laveri.
“Louis’s J’accuse rings out with a terrible clarity that echoes down French history; and leaves us hungry for more politics, and with an even deeper understanding of how a brutal economic system first creates men like Louis’s father, and then destroys them.”
– The Scotsman ★★★★
“powerful staging of Édouard Louis’ devastating third book … inescapably important. It is Louis’ searching, searing writing that shines… [with] an honest, engaging solo performance… It’s compelling, compassionate stuff. Read the book. See the show. Better yet, do both.”
– The Stage ★★★★
Rehearsal Trailer
Images
Dr. Stephen Greer’s /discourse
(c) JF Robert / modds
Édouard Louis’s first novel, En finir avec Eddy Bellegueule, was published when he was 21 years old. It was heralded as a literary revelation by El País, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Corriere delle Sera, and other publications. He is also the editor of Pierre Bourdieu: l’insoumission en heritage (PUF, 2013). In 2014 Louis received the Prix Pierre Guénin. His second book, Histoire de la Violence, was adapted for the stage by Thomas Ostermeier and premiered in Berlin in 2018. His work has been translated into thirty languages, making him one of the most celebrated writers of his generation worldwide.
QUI A TUÉ MON PÈRE Copyright © 2018, Édouard Louis All rights reserved
WHO KILLED MY FATHER, by Édouard Louis, translated by Lorin Stein, copyright © 2018 by Édouard Louis, translation copyright © 2019 by Lorin Stein. Translation used by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp.
