Set in a Greek-American social club at times of austerity, cost of living crisis and rising unemployment, ‘No For An Answer’ was written in 1941 but speaks to the present with terrifying prescience and will demonstrate the compassion and farsightedness of Blitzstein and speak to a modern British audience.
This will be the European premiere of No For An Answer by Marc Blitzstein, directed by the Arcola Theatre’s Artistic Director Mehmet Ergen, a pioneer of Blitzstein’s oeuvre in Britain.
American composer Blitzstein, a gay man murdered in 1964, won national attention in 1937 with the pro-union musical The Cradle Will Rock, also directed by Mehmet Ergen as Arcola’s 10th Anniversary production. It was originally directed by Orson Welles.
Leonard Bernstein, a close friend, said that Blitzstein’s contribution to the American musical theatre was “incalculable”. Blitzstein is also known for his off-Broadway translation/adaptation of The Threepenny Opera by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill, the opera Regina, an adaptation of Lillian Hellman’s play The Little Foxes and the Broadway musical Juno, based on Seán O’Casey’s play Juno and the Paycock.
