Play House & Definitely the Bahamas

WEDNESDAY 14 MARCH - SATURDAY 21 APRIL

Directed by Martin Crimp

Designed by Sam Dowson
Lighting by John Harris

Sex, work, pregnancy, madness, parents, weird neighbours, cleaning the fridge and dancing - Play House (2011) tells the story, in 13 bravura scenes, of a young couple's attempts to set up home. In Definitely the Bahamas (1987) - with its unsettling mix of comedy and unbearable
truth - Frank and Milly relish the visits of Michael, their charming and incredibly successful only child. But what exactly is his relationship to the young student living in their house? Originally produced by BBC Radio 3, then staged at the Orange Tree, directed by Alec McCowen, this is one of he first plays in which we can recognise Martin Crimp's distinctive voice. As the first champions of Crimp's work for the theatre, we are delighted to bring together one of his earliest plays with a completely new one, specially written for our 40th anniversary.

4 STARS The Independent
'The Orange Tree has been given a marvellous 40th birthday present by Martin Crimp, whose early work this gem of an in-the-round venue nurtured before the dramatist was taken up by the Royal Court and became one of the smartest and hippest hot properties on the European circuit ... He has put the cherry on the cake by directing the paired pieces in brilliantly cast, incisively conceived and terrifically entertaining productions ... Highly recommended.'

4 STARS Evening Standard
'It's quite the punchiest piece of new writing I've had the pleasure to enjoy this year [Play House] ... A splendid evening.'

4 STARS The Times
'His productions here are as spare and precise as his writing; and there's a fierce undertow beneath their elegant ripples of cool deliberation.'

4 STARS The Telegraph
'...his best work in years... often darkly but uproariously funny'

4 STARSFinancial Times

4 STARS Time Out
'The effect of both together is electric.'

3 STARS The Guardian
'What Crimp pins down rivetingly well is the paranoia and xenophobia that lurked behind a genteel, middle-class life in the late 1980s ... what impresses is the young Crimp's sharp understanding of a certain kind of domesticated English fascism [in Definitely the Bahamas].'

4 STARS Spoonfed
'Crimp's ability to get under the skin of problematic pairings oozes from his writing'

Cast:
Obi Abili
Kate Fahy
Ian Gelder
Lily James

Running time:
Play House 50 mins
20 mins interval
Definitely the Bahamas
1 hour 5 mins

Saturday Seminar: ?10 (?8 concessions)