Watch Preview Clips Of The Minor Character



Sky Arts have released two preview clips of David Tennant starring in their new drama The Minor Character. The play, written by Will Self, is the first in their new Playhouse Presents season of high quality comedies and dramas featuring some of the biggest talents in the UK.

From the Sky Arts website:

In The Minor Character, David Tennant stars as Will, an artist who observes life in minute detail. His dry commentary ranges from witty engagement to a casual erosive critique of his social set: the urban-suburban, middle-class landscape of his middle-aged friends.

Over a series of dinners, drinks and parties, we witness the shifting sands of friendship, marriage, love and lust, and the complexity and corruptness of London circles through Will's eyes. All the while, he entertains us with his reportage and offers us the privilege not only of his profound, inner thoughts, but also of an impartial, outward look into this microcosm of debauchery and selfishness.

As the clock cycles on, dreams are broken, relationships are ruined, misfortune strikes, and we, the spectators, are overwhelmed by the randomness and absurdity of life.

But how does Will stand in all of this?

Though he fends off sexual impropriety and resists indiscretions with the determination of staying afloat and unperturbed by this poisonous current of society, we soon get the impression that his judgement fails when it comes to placing himself in this very world he examines in so much detail. He is, after all, also a part of it.
His epiphany finally comes when a friend of the group dies; Will is shocked by the others' reaction, and bitterly realizes that all is not as it seems, and that despite years of 'friendship', they are all simply minor characters in each others' lives.

With his air of superiority now condensed to nothing, Will feels the most minor of all them all. In fact, for the first time ever, he discovers the void and realizes that although he took pride in being detached from the corruptness of his circle, he was, as were his friends, entirely detached altogether.

In the first clip, artist Will dryly observes his group of affluent friends at a dinner party

Video clip 1

In the second, it Will is surprised at how detached he has become from the lives of his friends

Video clip 2

The Minor Character will be the first play to be screened in the Playhouse Presents season and can be seen at 9pm on Thursday 12th April on Sky Arts 1 HD

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