Play House and Definitely the Bahamas

A Martin Crimp double bill.

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 the 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.

'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.' The Independent.

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

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

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

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

'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].' The Guardian.

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

Photos by Robert Day.