A Smile on the End of the Line (Les Travaux et les Jours)

Vinaver is undisputably one of France's most important contemporarary playwrights. This is the first play of his to be staged in England, and takes place in the customer service department of a manufacturer of coffee grinders. Set at a time of crisis for the firm, the five different worlds of the characters interesect at the office but reach beyond too into their private and emotional lives. As with much of Vinaver's work, the play deals with the way the actitvites of a large industrial company affect the lives of ordinary people. And he brings to his subject a unique and particular style. An important premiere for the Orange Tree. 'Sam Walters of the Orange Tree Theatre, with a discernment one longs to see in West End managements, has brought to Britain a clever subtly constructed comedie melancolique by an established French author in whom the British theatre has shown no interest.' The Daily Telegraph