Vernon God Little

A cleaner tells her neighbour of an overheard conversation in which a bureaucrat is being forced to relocate to the remote site of the new capital of Myanmar (formerly Burma). Two thieves discuss the easy pickings to be had from homes abandoned by those fleeing the country. Two civil servants gossip enviously about the sexual favours being accorded to a newly arrived government official...And so on, and so on. Gradually a picture emerges - in tiny, detailed brushstrokes - of a people deeply ill at ease, alienated from a dictatorial government, their daily lives warped and compromised...This impressive debut by a recent graduate of the Royal Court's Young Writers' scheme premieres at the Royal Court in February 2007. "The Eleventh Capital" is spare in its effects, mosaic-like in its structure, and brilliant at conveying an overarching sense of unease. The author is clearly an admirer of Caryl Churchill, but her play is wholly original.