Following their recent tour of Scotland and run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Edinburgh-based touring theatre company surrogate productions’ presents Who Killed My Father, based on the book by Édouard Louis, translated by Lorin Stein, and adapted and directed by Nora Wardell.
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 bed-bound and on morphine for the pain. Now, Édouard confronts his father, uncovering a startling connection between political decisions and his father’s broken body.
Édouard’s anger transforms to compassion as 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.
Tobi King Bakare and this theatre deserve a shout-out for such a young, diverse audience. There is so much talk about audiences being full of over 60s and why, why can’t theatres get the crowds in to reflect society in general? Well, I’m happy to say that on a rainy Thursday evening, the theatre was completely full.
Caiti Grove on Before I Go in CPT's Spring 2023 season London Theatre Reviews
