Leaving

FRIDAY 19 SEPTEMBER - SATURDAY 13 DECEMBER

Directed by Sam Walters

Designed by Sam Dowson
Lighting by John Harris

Chancellor Rieger is leaving office. But does leaving office necessarily mean that he, his long-time companion, and his extended family have to leave the state villa, which has been their home for years?
While his former secretary, and the former secretary to his former secretary, grapple with the mechanics of change and his family prepare to face an uncertain future, the Chancellor himself considers his legacy amidst visits from journalists, an infatuated student and deputy minister Klein.
The play which, which has echoes of both King Lear and The Cherry Orchard, addresses the themes of change, dispossession and the passage of power from one generation to the next amidst the chaos of leaving.


The Havel company includes:
Philip Anthony, David Antrobus, Robert Austin, Carolyn Backhouse, Geoffrey Beevers, Faye Castelow, Esther Ruth Elliott, Stuart Fox, James Greene, Johnathan Guy Lewis, Christopher Naylor, Paul O'Mahony, Rebecca Pownall, Mike Sengelow, Auriol Smith and Paula Stockbridge.

Running time: 2 hours 15 mins


The Sunday Times
'Deeply serious and thrillingly funny play'
'It pulsates with self-mocking irony'
'A hilarious send-up of politics and of the theatre'
'A humane and sophisticated intelligence... Sam Walters and his actors respond to it with all the dedication it deserves'

The Guardian
'An exuberantly mordent farce'
'Frantic energy...Sam Walters' Hellzapoppin-style production'

The Financial Times
'Acerbically funny...Painfully comic'

The Stage
'The Orange Tree makes fringe theatre history'
'An important cultural occasion'

The British Theatre Guide
'A masterpiece'
'A joyful evening...One cannot wait for the remaining quartet of plays in this valedictory season'

Whatsonstage
'Sam Walters's free-wheeling production fully honours Havel's high spirits'

Nightwaves (Aleks Sierz, BBC Radio 3)
'Laced with weird and wonderful moments'
'I absolutely loved it'

Front Row (Justin Cartwright, BBC Radio 4)
'I enjoyed it alot; it's clever, it's very funny'
'Tremendously well done'