EVENT: The Europeans (Struggles to Love)

THE EUROPEANS (STRUGGLES TO LOVE) by Howard Barker. Directed by Dr Steve Chinna (English and Cultural Studies). Theatre students in English and Cultural Studies at UWA present contemporary English playwright Howard Barker’s The Europeans. The play is set after the battle of Vienna in 1683, with the defeat of the invading Ottoman forces by a very temporary coalition of European powers. Barker’s play explores the themes of memory, exploitation, and the desire for reconciliation, as the mutilated rape survivor Katrin, aided by Starhemberg, the defender of Vienna during the siege, struggles to own the experience of her suffering against the desire by the Emperor Leopold to exploit it, and the baby that is the child of her rape. The play also engages with an ongoing Barker theme of how individuals struggle to re-invent themselves in times of catastrophe. An engaging cast of characters, wrestling with coming to terms with a changed world order, plus two vampiric mothers, and a multitude of physicians, academicians, soldiers and beggars, help create this as one of Barker’s most intriguing plays - a love story, set in a world of clashing belief systems and the cynical marketing of public reputations. Suitable for audiences 15+. Dolphin Theatre, UWA, 8pm. May 25-28, 2016. $25 full; $18 concession. Tickets at door or on ticketsWA.com