''13'' is a 2011 play by Mike Bartlett. It premiered at the

National Theatre, London The National Theatre (NT), officially the Royal National Theatre and sometimes referred to in international contexts as the National Theatre of Great Britain, is a performing arts venue and associated theatre company located in London, England, ...

, in October 2011 and centres around John, a christ-like figure, who returns from absence to preach an anti-war movement.

Production history

The play premiered at the National Theatre, London, on 18 October 2011, directed by Thea Sharrock, with Trystan Gravelle as John and Shane Zaza as Zia. In 2014, the play premiered at the

Chapter Arts Centre Chapter Arts Centre (often just referred to as Chapter) is an arts centre in Canton, Cardiff, Canton, Cardiff, Wales, opened in 1971. Description Chapter hosts films, Play (theatre), plays, performance art and live music, and includes a free ar ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

Reception

Michael Billington of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' awarded the play four stars and stating that Bartlett had written a "powerful, disturbing play", and described the set design of the production as "excellently served" by Thea Sharrock and Tom Scutt. Charles Spencer of ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are often names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * The Telegraph (Adelaide), ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaid ...

'' gave the play three stars, stating his main problem with it was the Jesus-like hero, John, believing that he'd never gain such a following and describing him as a "sanctimonious Welsh windbag". Spencer also found the set design of the National Theatre production failing to capture the atmosphere of modern London. He compared the play to Bartlett's previous one, '' Earthquakes in London'', which made him feel spellbound, whilst ''13'' made him feeling fidgety.

Print

The play was published by Bloomsbury Methuen, an imprint of

Bloomsbury Publishing Bloomsbury Publishing plc is a British worldwide publishing house of fiction and non-fiction. Bloomsbury's head office is located on Bedford Square in Bloomsbury, an area of the London Borough of Camden. It has a US publishing office located in ...

, on October 16, 2013.

References

{{reflist 2011 plays Plays by Mike Bartlett