The Notebook

Twin brothers

The latest production by Forced Entertainment is based on the highly acclaimed novel The Notebook by the Hungarian writer Ágota Kristóf. The book tells the story of twin brothers evacuated to the Hungarian countryside during World War II, to stay at their impoverished grandmother’s farm.

The unnamed narrators are social outsiders, surviving in and understanding the world by a harsh private code. Though strange and dysfunctional, the brothers are slowly revealed to be struggling moralists as Central Europe crumbles into vice, cruelty and opportunism.

Kristof’s narrational language – bold, crisp and reduced – provides the basis for a compelling performance. The two performers stand side by side. Trapped in one voice and one shared perspective they tell their fascinating story, an unravelling knot of naïve logic, weaving dark and subversive humour from wartime hardships.

'...galvanising, and a reminder of the wide vocabulary of a company that is 30 this year and still at the top of its game.' **** - The Guardian

• This year Forced Entertainment will be celebrating its thirtieth anniversary. Led by director Tim Etchells, since 1984 these theatre-makers have presented themselves as the trailblazers of British avant-garde theatre and built up a solid international reputation.