Who better than Terry to have provided the story for the National’s eagerly awaited new family show which follows on the heels of such past NT hits as His Dark Materials, Coram Boy and War Horse?
Nation is a one-off novel rather than part of the Discworld series, and began, says Terry, with his vision of a boy standing on a beach on an island in the pouring rain and cursing the gods, who he believes have just destroyed his country with a terrible tsunami.
Young Mau appears to be the only human survivor, precariously caught between childhood and man’s estate, but he soon meets up with an English girl, Daphne, who survived the wreck of the ship on which she was sailing to meet her father in the South Seas. Together the black boy and white girl rebuild the nation and cope with no end of difficulties.
Mark Ravenhill’s adaptation of the novel, and Melly Still’s production is now about to hit the stage.
