Michael Longhurst

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The World of Extreme Happiness

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Writer Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig Starring
  • Vera Chok
  • Junix Inocian
  • Sarah Lam
    •  
    The Shed, National Theatre

    The World of Extreme Happiness charts the often disturbing transformations taking place in contemporary China.

    Through the life of the ambitious sanitation worker Sunny, the play explores the conflicts that mark the country - between the genders, rural and urban life, tradition and consumerism, older and younger generations, and people and state.

    Performances run from 25 September to 26 October. For more information, click here.

    Media
    The World of Extreme Happiness
    Reviews

    one of the very best new plays of the year... the smart, savvy production of Michael Longhurst Michael Coveney
    WhatsOnStage

    [an] ambitious, wide-reaching, politically biting play about China... fearless, zippily-paced, and satirical Holly Williams
    The Independent

    Longhurst directs brilliantly and briskly, turning the NT’s... Shed space into a rich, strange underground China Andrzej Lukowski
    Time Out

    It’s confrontational, bitterly funny and sometimes horrifying, in a production by Michael Longhurst that crackles with rough-theatre energy. Sam Marlowe
    Metro

    The World of Extreme Happiness at the National Theatre Shed, SE1

    vigorously directed... by Michael Longhurst... the strands weave into an unforgettably dark conclusion.

     Libby Purves
    The Times     Full Review

    director Michael Longhurst keeps the pacing swift and there are nimble performances from an outstanding cast.

     Lyn Gardner
    The Guardian

    ambitious and often harrowing... Michael Longhurst’s production often achieves the vertiginous quality of a nightmare.

     Charles Spencer
    The Telegraph

    the rough and ready Shed aesthetic suits this project splendidly... Michael Longhurst directs with brio and Leung slides convincingly from ruses to regret.

     Fiona Mountford
    Evening Standard

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    Lily Williams
    +44 (0)20 7393 4452
    Email Lily Williams
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