Harrower's Blackbird to Spread Its Wings on Film

By Adam Hetrick
21 Aug 2008

David Harrower
David Harrower

David Harrower's Olivier Award-winning drama Blackbird is currently in development for a silver-screen adaptation.

Jean Doumanian, who has produced "Bullets Over Broadway," "The Spanish Prisoner" and the forthcoming film adaptation of August: Osage County, will produce the film. Playwright Harrower will pen the screenplay.

In a statement Doumanian said, "When I saw Blackbird on stage, I was really struck by the raw, emotional intensity of David Harrower's characters and their gripping story. David has one of the most unique voices in the theatre today and the fact that he is now translating that voice to the screen with us is very exciting."

A time-line and casting for film have not been announced.

Blackbird, according to press notes, "is a two-character drama that centers on an illicit affair between a young woman, Una and an older man, Ray. When Una shows up unexpectedly at the office of Ray, he is forced to come to terms with the effects of their previous relationship."

Harrower's inspiration for Blackbird came after he read a story about a man who traveled abroad to meet a young girl he first encountered on the Internet. His works include 365, Knives in Hens, Kill the Old Torture Their Young, The Chrysalids and Presence. He has also adapted versions of Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author (Six Characters Looking for an Author), Chekhov's Ivanov and Buchner's Woyzeck.

Blackbird was previously presented Off-Broadway in 2007 by the Manhattan Theatre Club, starring Jeff Daniels and Alison Pill.