Robert William Sherwood

Vancouver, Toronto, New York, London, Köln

Writing

I am one of the founding producers of Summerworks, a Toronto theatre festival now in its 30th year. I have written the following plays:

Absolution

(90 minutes, 3M, 2F) A story about a teenage girl no one remembers and none can forget, the play is a thriller, a murder-mystery, and a meditation on the truth of words, memory, and repentance.

Absolution premiered in London at the White Bear Theatre and transferred to the Battersea Arts Centre as part of the BAC's Time Out Critic's Choice season. The play's American premiere was at the Greenway Court Theatre in Los Angeles and its Israeli premiere was at Habimah in Tel Aviv. Productions followed at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago and the American Repertory Theatre at Harvard.

Absolution was a Time Out Critic's Choice and was nominated by the Writer's Guild of Great Britain for the Best Fringe Play of 1997.

Adventures In Terror

(150 minutes, 4M, 2F) The play presents a panoramic vision of America in the age of terror.

B-Play

(80 minutes, 2M, 2F) This play tells the story of a cop undercover, mired in a criminal underworld in which everyone seems to be also in disguise.

Drinking In Circles

(60 minutes, 2M, 2F) A series of bar conversations, the play tells the story of a disgruntled, average family man who signs over his life insurance policy to a contract killer in return for six months of the sort of life he can only dream of.

Drinking In Circles was a Time Out Critic's Choice.

Kinshasa

(120 minutes, 7M, 2F) Set in New York and the Northern Congo, and inspired by the largest gold-mining fraud in history, this is a tale of Third World corruption, asset fraud, investor hysteria, and civil war.

The Last True Believer

(120 minutes, 3M, 2F) A post Cold War tale about a British spy haunted by his last act of treachery, the play examines idealogical belief in an age when no one believes in anything anymore.

The Last True Believer premiered at Seattle Rep.

Nero

(180 minutes, 8M, 4F) A verse drama set in ancient Rome, the play concerns the incestuous — and ultimately murderous — relationship between the Roman emperor, Nero, and the most powerful woman in Roman history, his mother Agrippina.

Nero premiered in Toronto at the inaugural season of Summerworks. It was a Now Magazine Critic's Choice.

Spin

(120 minutes, 3M, 2F) The play concerns a ruthless American election campaign, a vicious rumour involving the candidate's wife, and a deranged campaign manager who has a single afternoon to determine what the story is, whether it is true, and what he is going to do about it.

Spin premiered in London at the White Bear Theatre and transferred to the Battersea Arts Centre as part of the BAC's Time Out Critic's Choice season. The play's American premiere was at the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia, followed by a production at the Zeitgeist Stage Company in Boston.

Spin was a Time Out Critic's Choice.

Thugs

(150 minutes, 4M, 5F) A film noir farce, this play concerns a down-and-out private detective who specialises in cases of male infidelity. Ex-wives, male escort agencies, and middle-aged male encounter groups figure prominently.

Thugs was a Time Out Critic's Choice.

Unrequited

(80 minutes, 3M, 3F) A drama of regret as well as a parable of foreign war, this is the story of an American photo-journalist who leaves the London woman he loves in order to find meaning in the killing fields of Kosovo.

Unrequited was written as a commission for South Coast Repertory Theatre in Orange County, California.

Zeno's Arrow

(120 minutes, 3M, 4F) A social portrait of the Manhattan middle class set against a background of economic doubt and career anxiety, this is the story of a birthday party for a sister who is turning thirty-nine.

Zeno's Arrow was written as a commission for the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia.