Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
The Seven Acts of Mercy

The Seven Acts of Mercy

Lustgarten, Anders

Paperback

Series: Modern Plays

Art HistoryPlaysPlaywriting

ISBN10: 135000491X
ISBN13: 9781350004917
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Published: Dec 15 2016
Pages: 120
Weight: 0.27
Height: 0.24 Width: 5.06 Depth: 7.81
Language: English

You have to be tough to be kind. That's what I've learned from you, Granddad. Tough and fearless and strong. So that's what I'm going to be.

Naples, 1606. Inside an unfinished church, a painting is emerging from the darkness. The Seven Acts of Mercy is Caravaggio's masterpiece - and his first painting since he killed a man and fled Rome. As the artist works, he is fueled by anger, self-loathing and his driving need to create a work that speaks of compassion in a violent world.

Bootle, the present day. A retired dock worker teaches his grandson, as around them a community is disintegrating under the pressure of years of economic and political degradation. With all he has left, a book of great works of art, he tries to open the boy's eyes to the tragedy and beauty of the life he faces. And the boy reciprocates in the only way he knows.

Playing out across a gap of 400 years, Anders Lustgarten's visceral play confronts the dangerous necessity of compassion, in a world where it is in short supply. The Seven Acts of Mercy received its world premiere at the Swan Theatre, RSC, on 24 November 2016.

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