Capital is a new play that recently had its world premiere at Detroit Repertory Theatre. The Detroit Free Press gave it four out of four stars, calling it an “inspired new comedy” that tends to be “at once old-fashioned and modern, cerebral and slapstick.” It’s All Theatre named it one of the best plays in southeastern Michigan during the 2016/2017 season.
The play portrays Karl Marx, not when he was a famous philosopher, but when he was a lowly journalist in London, struggling to pay rent and constantly arguing with his teenage daughter. He mistakenly gets hold of a scandalous letter by the novelist Charles Dickens. And then all hell breaks loose….
Capital deals with two iconic figures of the Victorian era, imagining how their paths might have crossed, and how decisions made long ago might still be affecting us today. It is not only politically relevant to our present moment, but it engages with audiences emotionally as well as intellectually.
Author James Armstrong has had his plays performed by the Attic Ensemble in Jersey City (The Four Doctors Huxley), the Abingdon Theatre Company in New York (Foggy Bottom), Playwrights’ Forum in Memphis (The Metric System), and Sundog Theatre on Staten Island (Meucci’s Message) among other theaters. Recently, Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater premiered my stage adaptation of Moby-Dick.
If you are interested in performing Capital, contact James Armstrong at:
armstrongwrites [at] gmail [dot] com