The Seven Acts of Mercy

Onur appeared in “The Seven Acts of Mercy” by Anders Lustgarten directed by Jake Norton.

4th and 8th June 2019 – Liverpool : LIPA.

Originally produced by The Royal Shakespeare Company in 2016, Grasp The Nettle presents The Seven Acts of Mercy.

The Seven Acts of Mercy

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.

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 fuelled by anger, self-loathing and his driving need to create a work that speaks of compassion in a violent world.

Onur will be playing Giovan(ni) Battista Manso, one of the founders of Il Pio Monte Della Misericordia, where Caravaggio’s painting still resides.

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.

This rehearsal & development production of The Seven Acts of Mercy was supported by Arts Council England and The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, by arrangement with Anders Lustgarten.

 

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