''The Nether'' is a sci-fi crime drama written by American playwright

Jennifer Haley Jennifer Haley is an American playwright. She grew up in San Antonio, Texas and studied acting at the University of Texas at Austin for her undergraduate degree. Haley also received a MFA in playwriting at Brown University in 2005, where she ...

. The play received its world premiere at the

Kirk Douglas Theatre The Kirk Douglas Theatre is a 317-seat theater located in Culver City, California. Since 2004, it has been operated by the Center Theatre Group. History Built in 1946, as a Streamline Moderne movie palace with a seating capacity of 1,160 (on a ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

in March 2013, after being first developed at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center as part of the 2011 National Playwrights Conference. Subsequent productions have been mounted at the

Royal Court Theatre The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a West End theatre#London's non-commercial theatres, non-commercial West End theatre in Sloane Square, in the Royal ...

in 2013, MCC Theater in 2014 and in the

West End West End most commonly refers to: * West End of London, an area of central London, England * West End theatre, a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London, England West End may also refer to: Pl ...

at the

Duke of York's Theatre The Duke of York's Theatre is a West End theatre in St Martin's Lane, in the City of Westminster, London. It was built for Frank Wyatt and his wife, Violet Melnotte, who retained ownership of the theatre until her death in 1935. Designed by t ...

in 2015. It won the 2012 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, and was nominated for Best New Play at the 2015 Laurence Olivier Awards.

Plot

The play is set in the near future. The internet has evolved into the Nether, a vast network of virtual reality realms. Users may log in, choose an identity, and indulge any desire. When Detective Morris investigates a realm called The Hideaway where pedophiles may live out their fantasies involving children, she brings its creator in for interrogation. They discover they have made emotional attachments in his realm that blind them to the greater questions of ethical behavior, both in the imagination and the outside world.

Characters

* Detective Morris: head of the investigation of The Hideaway * Sims/Papa: creator of The Hideaway * Doyle: an older man who has a connection to The Hideaway * Iris: young girl who works at The Hideaway * Woodnut: a frequent visitor at The Hideaway

Production history

The world premiere at Center Theatre Group was directed by Neel Keller. It won 7

Ovation Awards The Ovation Awards are a Southern California award for excellence in theatre, established in 1989. They are given out by the non-profit arts service organization LA Stage Alliance and are the only peer-judged theatre awards in Los Angeles. Winne ...

for design, acting, and Playwriting for an Original Play. Headlong and the Royal Court produced ''The Nether'' in London in 2014, with Jeremy Herrin directing. In 2015 the show transferred to the

’s Duke of York’s Theatre, produced by Sonia Friedman Productions, Scott M. Delman and Tulchin Bartner Productions, and was nominated for an

Olivier Award The Laurence Olivier Awards, or simply the Olivier Awards, are presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre in London at an annual ceremony in the capital. The awards were originally known a ...

for Best New Play. Manhattan Class Company produced the play in New York City in 2015, with Anne Kauffman directing.

Truman State University Truman State University (TSU or Truman) is a public university in Kirksville, Missouri. It had 4,225 enrolled students in the fall of 2021 pursuing degrees in 52 undergraduate and 11 graduate programs. The university is named for U.S. Preside ...

produced the show in fall 2015. San Francisco Playhouse produced the play in January 2016, as did the

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company is a non-profit theatre company located at 641 D Street NW in the Penn Quarter neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1980, it produces new plays which it believes to be edgy, challenging, and thought-provokin ...

of Washington D.C. in April 2016, and the

Alley Theatre The Alley Theatre is a Tony Award-winning theatre company in Houston, Texas. It is the oldest professional theatre company in Texas and the third oldest resident theatre in the United States. Alley Theatre productions have played on Broadway at L ...

in May 2016. More recently it was performed at the Jungle Theater in

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with list of lakes in Minneapolis, thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. ...

and at the Seymour Centre of Sydney, Australia, both in September/October 2017, as well as the Mosesian Center for the Arts in Watertown, MA outside of Boston in June 2018.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nether, The 2013 plays American plays Science fiction theatre