3 - 26 February 1994

THE LODGER

by Simon Burke

World Premiere

Sponsored by John Good Holbrook

Wise PHILIP JACKSON
Lois JULIA FORD
Reed MATTHEW MARSH
Pollock  MARK WOMACK
Miss Cheesman LIZ STOOKE
Tom ROBERT CLAVERT

Director RICHARD WILSON
Designer JULIAN McGOWAN
Lighting JOHANNA TOWN
Sound ALASTAIR GOOLDEN
Music HOWARD DAVIDSON
Fight Director MALCOLM RANSON

'Simon Burke, a television playwright, makes his theatre debut with this harsh, edgy, indignant play....Richard Wilson directs with a remorseless sense of tension. This play won a well-deserved first prize in the 1992 Mobil Playwriting Competition; Mobil should be proud of its enlightened patronage.'
John Peter The Sunday Times

'Simon Burke's...play...is beautifully structured and full of surprises...Burke's dialogue is taut and...full of sharp one-liners...Julia Ford plays her (Lois) with sparkle and vulnerability but no sentiment, cautious and pragmatic in her sparring with Philip Jackson's comically dowdy and naive but not unlikable Wise...An exemplary cast is completed by Mark Womack's intelligent and slightly psychopathic Pollock and Matthew Marsh as Reed...Richard Wilson directs with pace, tautness and clarity, helped by Julia McGowan's superbly apposite set...This is a sharp, dark play but also a compassionate one, even after this one superbly crafted production, it looks strong enough to enter the repertory permanently.
Grevel Lindop The Times Literary Supplement

'The Lodger is never less than gripping...all is insecurity, menace and Pinterish mystery.'
Benedict Nightingale The Times