Adapted from the award winning novel by Janne Teller
"Nothing matters.
From the moment you are born, you start to die.
The Earth is 4.6 billion years old. You'll live to be a maximum of one hundred...
Life isn't worth the bother!"
So says Pierre Anthon when he decides there's no meaning to life, leaves his ninth-grade classroom, climbs a plum tree, and stays there. His classmates can't get him to come down, not even by pelting him with rocks. So, to prove to him that there is a meaning to life, they set out to give up things of great importance, challenging one another to make increasingly serious sacrifices. The pile is started with a lifetime's collection of Dungeons & Dragons books, a fishing rod, a pair of green sandals, a pet hamster - but then, as each demand becomes more extreme, events take a morbid twist. And what if, after all these sacrifices, the pile is still not meaningful enough to bring Pierre Anthon down?
NOTHING is an adaptation of Janne Teller's award winning existential Young Adult novel. First published in Denmark in 2000, it was initially banned but has since become an international bestseller and is considered by many critics to be a new classic.
From the moment you are born, you start to die.
The Earth is 4.6 billion years old. You'll live to be a maximum of one hundred...
Life isn't worth the bother!"
So says Pierre Anthon when he decides there's no meaning to life, leaves his ninth-grade classroom, climbs a plum tree, and stays there. His classmates can't get him to come down, not even by pelting him with rocks. So, to prove to him that there is a meaning to life, they set out to give up things of great importance, challenging one another to make increasingly serious sacrifices. The pile is started with a lifetime's collection of Dungeons & Dragons books, a fishing rod, a pair of green sandals, a pet hamster - but then, as each demand becomes more extreme, events take a morbid twist. And what if, after all these sacrifices, the pile is still not meaningful enough to bring Pierre Anthon down?
NOTHING is an adaptation of Janne Teller's award winning existential Young Adult novel. First published in Denmark in 2000, it was initially banned but has since become an international bestseller and is considered by many critics to be a new classic.
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Key Creatives:
Writer - Fleur Murphy Director - Alonso Pineda Set and Costume Design - Karine Larché Lighting Design - Harrie Hogan Music Supervisor - Lara Dawson Cast: Rebecca Makar Jessica Martin Samantha Hafey Jonah Winkler Connor James |
“This beautiful and frightening book stopped me in my tracks.” David Almond, The Guardian, UK “A youth novel in Nobel Prize class.” Lena Kjersén Edman, Sweden “Gorgeously lyrical and dreadfully bleak.” Kirkus Review, USA “Janne Teller has with NOTHING written a novel that is as haunting as it is brilliant.” El Tiempo, Colombia |
The world premiere of this arresting adaption will be presented at Fortyfive Downstairs in October 2021.
The development of this script is gratefully supported by Creative Victoria through their Sustaining Creative Workers Grants.
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