Donald Freed The Death of Ivan Ilych

One of Leo Tolstoy's most celebrated pieces of late fiction, ILYCH deals with the tyranny of the bourgeois niceties, the weakness in the human heart, living without meaning, and death. Ivan Ilych has spent his life chasing after wealth and status while ignoring his family. After a minor accident, it becomes clear that Ivan Ilyich is going to die. Contemplating his life, Ivan Ilych realizes that he has lived an empty existence as he finds himself totally alone. "His work is a unique and fearless marriage of politics and art. I take my hat off to him." Harold Pinter " An] unapologetically political author, Donald Freed, has made a career of hunting out horror as well as humanity in an age that seems bent on self-destruction." Los Angeles Times "We are in the presence of an outstanding dramatic artist, one of huge intelligence, political daring and theatrical imagination." The Gate Theatre, Dublin