''East'' is a 1975 verse play by

Steven Berkoff Steven Berkoff (born Leslie Steven Berks; 3 August 1937) is an English actor, author, playwright, theatre practitioner and theatre director. As a theatre maker he is recognised for staging work with a heightened performance style known as "Be ...

, dealing with growing up and

rites of passage A rite of passage is a ceremony or ritual of the passage which occurs when an individual leaves one group to enter another. It involves a significant change of status in society. In cultural anthropology the term is the Anglicisation of ''rite ...

in London's rough East End. The play premiered at the

Edinburgh Festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of Arts festival, arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the ...

at the Traverse in 1975, with the production later transferring to the King's Head in London.

Notable Productions

World premiere Performed by The London Theatre group at the

Traverse Theatre The Traverse Theatre is a theatre in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was founded as The Traverse Theatre Club in 1962 by John Calder, John Malcolm, Jim Haynes, Richard Demarco, Terry Lane, Andrew Muir, John Martin and Sheila Colvin. The Traverse Th ...

as part of the

and later transferred to the King's Head, London.
Directed by Steven Berkoff. *Dad - Barry Stanton *Mum - Robert Longden *Sylv - Anna Nygh *Les - Barry Philips *Mike - Steven Berkoff 1976 Greenwich production Performed with a revised script in July 1976 at the

Greenwich Theatre Greenwich Theatre is a local theatre located in Croom's Hill close to the centre of Greenwich in south-east London. Theatre first came to Greenwich at the beginning of the 19th century during the famous Eastertide Greenwich Fair at which the Ri ...

. *Dad - Mathew Scurfield *Mum - David Delve *Sylv - Anna Nygh *Les - Barry Philips *Mike - Steven Berkoff 25th Anniversary Production The 25th anniversary production, started at the Churchill Theatre, Bromley. The tour included performing at the

from 4 August (winning the Stage Award for Best Ensemble work at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe) and it was performed at London's

Vaudeville Theatre The Vaudeville Theatre is a West End theatre on the Strand in the City of Westminster. Opening in 1870, the theatre staged mostly vaudeville shows and musical revues in its early days. The theatre was rebuilt twice, although each new buildin ...

on 15 September 1999. The production was also performed at Théâtre de Silvia Monfort, Paris from 7 March 2000 as part of the "Londres sur Scène" festival. Performed by East Productions.
Directed by Steven Berkoff. *Dad - Jonathan Linsley *Mum -

Edward Bryant Edward Winslow Bryant Jr. (August 27, 1945 – February 10, 2017) was an American science fiction and horror fiction, horror writer sometimes associated with the Dangerous Visions series of anthologies that bolstered New Wave (science fiction), ...

*Sylv -

Tanya Franks Tanya Christine Franks (born 16 August 1967) is an English actress. She is best known for her role as Rainie Cross in the BBC soap opera, ''EastEnders''. Career 1986–2006 Franks worked for 14 years in theatre both in the UK and abroad. Her ...

*Les - Matthew Cullum *Mike - Christopher Middleton A performance from the Vaudeville Theatre run was filmed in front of a live audience. The recording has been released on VHS, DVD and is available for streaming or digital rental on Digital Theatre. 2018 London Revival Performed by Atticist theatre company 9 January 2018 at The King's Head Theatre, London.
Directed by Jessica Lazar. *Dad - Russell Barnett *Mum - Debra Penny *Sylv - Boadicea Ricketts *Les - Jack Condon *Mike - James Craze The production was met with critical acclaim, receiving five award nominations and selling out its entire run.

Legacy

Reputation ''East'' was listed as one of 100 of the “best and most influential plays” performed in Britain from 1945 - 2010, by the book and accompanying iPad app ''Played in Britain: Modern Theatre in 100 Plays''. The critic

Aleks Sierz Aleks Sierz is a British theatre critic. He is known for popularising the term " In-yer-face theatre", which was the title of a book he published in 2001. Sierz was educated at Manchester University and holds a PhD from Westminster University. ...

has called the play an "in-yer-face classic" and has named Berkoff as "a pioneer of in-yer-face theatre". The label of in-yer-face theatre, popularised by Sierz, is used to describe a confrontational style and sensibility of drama, which became prominent in new plays performed in Britain during the 1990s. However, Sierz has cited ''East'' (along with some other plays) as being "an exception" for fitting the category of in-yer-face theatre prior to the 1990s. Influence ''East'' has been cited as inspiring some of the work of a variety of playwrights and theatre makers. The critic

Lyn Gardner Lyn Gardner is a British theatre critic, children's writer, and journalist who contributes reviews and articles to ''The Stage'' and '' Stagedoor'' and has written for ''The Guardian''. Theatre critic and educator A graduate in drama and English ...

has stated that the play "foreshadowed the physical-theatre boom of the 80s and 90s. East and Berkoff helped inspire all those companies such as Theatre de Complicite and Frantic Assembly." Early in his career the playwright

Mark Ravenhill Mark Ravenhill (born 7 June 1966) is an English playwright, actor and journalist. Ravenhill is one of the most widely performed playwrights in British theatre of the late-twentieth and twenty-first centuries. His major plays include '' Shoppi ...

wrote the short play ''Blood Brood'', which was performed at the 1987

Edinburgh Fringe Festival The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

. Ravenhill described his play as "the story of the

Kray twins Ronald Kray (24 October 193320 March 1995) and Reginald Kray (24 October 19331 October 2000) were English gangsters or organised crime figures and identical twin brothers from Haggerston who were prominent from the late 1950s until their arres ...

in blank verse, inspired by Berkoff's ''East''." The actor, director, stage manager and writer Harry Gibson mounted "the first revival of ''East'' outside London, in 1978" and has cited the play as "the biggest influence" on his stage adaptation of

Irvine Welsh Irvine Welsh (born 27 September 1958) is a Scottish novelist and short story writer. His 1993 novel ''Trainspotting (novel), Trainspotting'' was made into a Trainspotting (film), film of the same name. He has also written plays and screenplays, ...

's novel ''

Trainspotting Trainspotting may refer to: * Trainspotting (hobby), an amateur interest in railways/railroads * ''Trainspotting'' (novel), a 1993 novel by Irvine Welsh ** ''Trainspotting'' (film), a 1996 film based on the novel *** ''Trainspotting'' (soundt ...

''. Actor and playwright Elliot Warren wrote his 2016 verse play ''Flesh and Bone'' as a result of being unable to afford the rights to perform ''East''. Warren's ''Flesh and Bone'' was strongly influenced by Berkoff's play and went on to win multiple awards, including the 2019 Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Affiliate Theatre.''Flesh and Bone'' on publisher Nick Hern Books website
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References

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External links

1975 plays Comedy plays West End plays Plays by Steven Berkoff Plays set in London

Notable Productions

Legacy

Further reading

References

External links