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خلبان آمریکایی
یک هواپیمای جاسوسی در یک دره دورافتاده در کشوری دور سقوط میکند. روستاییان محلی خلبان مجروح را میگیرند و درباره سرنوشت او بحث میکنند. خلبان آمریکایی نحوه نگرش جهان به آمریکا و نحوه نگاه آمریکا به جهان را بررسی میکند.
108 pages, Paperback
First published May 5, 2005
21 people want to read
About the author
David Greig
67 books65 followersDavid Greig is a Scottish dramatist. He was born in Edinburgh in 1969 and brought up in Nigeria. He studied drama at Bristol University and is now a well-known writer and director of plays. He has been commissioned by the Royal Court, the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company and was Artistic Director of the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh from 2015 until 2025, when he left to return to writing.
His first play was produced in Glasgow in 1992 and he has written many plays since, produced worldwide. In 1990 he co-founded Suspect Culture Theatre Group with Graham Eatough in Glasgow.
His translations include Camus' Caligula (2003), Candide 2000, and When the Bulbul Stopped Singing, based on a book by Raja Shehadeh. Danmy 306 + Me (4 ever) (1999) is a play written for children.
David Greig's plays include The American Pilot (2005), about America's involvement in the Middle East and Eastern Europe; Pyrenees (2005) about a man who is found in the foothills of the Pyrenees, having lost his memory; and San Diego (2003), a journey through the American dream. His latest works are Gobbo, a modern- day fairytale; Herges Adverntures of Tintin, an adaptation; Yellow Moon (2006); and Damascus (2007)
His first play was produced in Glasgow in 1992 and he has written many plays since, produced worldwide. In 1990 he co-founded Suspect Culture Theatre Group with Graham Eatough in Glasgow.
His translations include Camus' Caligula (2003), Candide 2000, and When the Bulbul Stopped Singing, based on a book by Raja Shehadeh. Danmy 306 + Me (4 ever) (1999) is a play written for children.
David Greig's plays include The American Pilot (2005), about America's involvement in the Middle East and Eastern Europe; Pyrenees (2005) about a man who is found in the foothills of the Pyrenees, having lost his memory; and San Diego (2003), a journey through the American dream. His latest works are Gobbo, a modern- day fairytale; Herges Adverntures of Tintin, an adaptation; Yellow Moon (2006); and Damascus (2007)
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 1, 2022
David Greig's play The American Pilot confronts a couple of important issues--America's place in the world, first of all; and, more fundamentally, the ways that self-interest and politics, in all its various forms, interact and influence events. And it does these things with glorious theatricality, placing its audience right in the middle of its gripping story and in the midst of its challenging, gnawing themes.
It takes place in a deliberately unnamed country that we assume is in the Middle East or Eastern Europe or Western Asia or possibly Africa: a place where a civil war has been going on for many years and where contact with America and what we used to call the 'free world' is extremely limited for most of its citizens. (Note that this play pre-dates the era of Twitter.) Here, in a remote rural area, a farmer has discovered an American pilot whose plane crashed into the side of a mountain, and has brought the pilot, whose leg is broken, into his barn.The farmer never wanted anything like this to happen to disturb his quiet, anonymous life. But it has happened, and now he and the people of his village have to figure out what to do next.
The farmer goes first to a trader, who is a member of the village council; he in turn reports the American to the Captain, the local head of an insurgent group trying to overthrow the government and de facto leader of the district. The Captain brings his young lieutenant along as an interpreter, and eventually they determine that the American pilot needs to be killed, on videotape, as a means of publicizing their (losing) battle. The farmer's daughter, a remarkable visionary named Evie, is horrified by this plan; meanwhile, the farmer and his wife want to marry Evie to the interpreter because the Captain has told them that if they do, their son will be spared military service. The trader has his own agenda, as well, based purely on what will be most profitable for him.
I won't divulge how this story turns out, even though the characters reveal the ending themselves long before the play's conclusion (to Greig's immense credit, we hear them but we don't really believe them). What I will tell you is that each of these individuals is given space and time to explain to us how they feel about this sudden intrusion, and why they've elected to react to it as they have.
And while Greig uncovers some truths about how America may be perceived by the rest of the world--truths that may be unsettling and upsetting to an American audience--he has placed an American in the role of victim in his story: the one character who is frightened, alone, in pain, occasionally tortured, and in very real danger of losing his life is the young pilot. It's impossible not to feel for him, even when his sense of entitlement aggressively asserts itself.
It takes place in a deliberately unnamed country that we assume is in the Middle East or Eastern Europe or Western Asia or possibly Africa: a place where a civil war has been going on for many years and where contact with America and what we used to call the 'free world' is extremely limited for most of its citizens. (Note that this play pre-dates the era of Twitter.) Here, in a remote rural area, a farmer has discovered an American pilot whose plane crashed into the side of a mountain, and has brought the pilot, whose leg is broken, into his barn.The farmer never wanted anything like this to happen to disturb his quiet, anonymous life. But it has happened, and now he and the people of his village have to figure out what to do next.
The farmer goes first to a trader, who is a member of the village council; he in turn reports the American to the Captain, the local head of an insurgent group trying to overthrow the government and de facto leader of the district. The Captain brings his young lieutenant along as an interpreter, and eventually they determine that the American pilot needs to be killed, on videotape, as a means of publicizing their (losing) battle. The farmer's daughter, a remarkable visionary named Evie, is horrified by this plan; meanwhile, the farmer and his wife want to marry Evie to the interpreter because the Captain has told them that if they do, their son will be spared military service. The trader has his own agenda, as well, based purely on what will be most profitable for him.
I won't divulge how this story turns out, even though the characters reveal the ending themselves long before the play's conclusion (to Greig's immense credit, we hear them but we don't really believe them). What I will tell you is that each of these individuals is given space and time to explain to us how they feel about this sudden intrusion, and why they've elected to react to it as they have.
And while Greig uncovers some truths about how America may be perceived by the rest of the world--truths that may be unsettling and upsetting to an American audience--he has placed an American in the role of victim in his story: the one character who is frightened, alone, in pain, occasionally tortured, and in very real danger of losing his life is the young pilot. It's impossible not to feel for him, even when his sense of entitlement aggressively asserts itself.
September 5, 2011
Big Wow factor. A tiny theatre, where one is a few feet from somebody being imprisoned and badly treated, really changes the impact of this one. You ARE part of what is happening. I just can't imagine how it would behave in a movie setting or even a big theatre.
May 25, 2011
England 2005.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews