Sunday Morning at the Centre of the World

by Louis de Bernières

Sunday Morning at the Centre of the World had 2 performances about 12 years ago (between the 13th of October 2012 and the 23rd of October 2012) at Riverside Arts Centre

First broadcast on BBC radio in 1998 this vibrant and lyrical play, from the author of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, paints a colourful picture of the community in Earlsfield, South West London, where the author spent the early part of his career whilst working as a supply teacher and an aspiring writer.

The play is fully of imagery, powerful themes and strong characters all providing a sense of place and context to the present through the past and future. The humour, some of which is quite black, provides an emotional outlet for the characters (and audience) into what is also an exploration of the human condition.

Likened to ‘Under Milk Wood’ by Dylan Thomas this fascinating play explores what makes up a community by letting us take a look into the everyday lives of ‘all’ the inhabitants of Ramillies Road on a Sunday morning at what for them is the centre of the world.

This is a play with something for everyone and is very much an ensemble piece. Originally a play for voices there are in region of 50 ‘characters’ so the casting very much depends on those available. The play can be performed with a small cast taking on multiple characters (minimum of 8) or with a larger cast some taking key characters and others forming part of a wider ‘Greek chorus’ again taking on multiple characters. There are plenty of good acting opportunities for everyone. This is one play where age and gender knows no bounds!

The characters are largely self explanatory from their ‘character names’. Some characters only have a few lines, but with multiple parts of varying length available this play provides a wonderful acting opportunity for people to develop, both physically and vocally, and demonstrate many different characters throughout the play.