"50s Absurdism meets 90s in-yer-face apocalypticism."
A mild-mannered professor takes on a new pupil, and swiftly descends into tyranny, becoming bent on her destruction.
A blistering revival of Icarus’ award-winning dark comedy with a new Creative Captioning process supported by Arts Council England, for both hearing and deaf/HoH audiences.
A comically surreal expose about power, knowledge and those who hoard both.
Premiered at Southwark Playhouse
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟"Director Max Lewendel has taken Theatre of the Absurd to a new level" - Broadway Baby
"Ground-breaking, superb, unmissable" - Fringe Review
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟“An anarchic attack on totalitarianism” - Theatre Board
🌟🌟🌟🌟"90 minutes of pure theatre" - Theatre News
"Chilling and macabre, interesting and terrifying, hypnotic and riveting. A timeless fantasy" - UK Theatre Network
🌟🌟🌟🌟"Incandescent" - London Pub Theatres
🌟🌟🌟🌟"Shocking, top-quality theatre" - Plays International
🌟🌟🌟🌟"Irreverent... brilliant" - London Theatre Reviews
🌟🌟🌟🌟"Flawless... expertly choreographed by Max Lewendel." - North West End Theatre
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟"Absolutely excellent, intelligent and innovative" - DIal News
🌟🌟🌟🌟 Sardines Magazine
🌟🌟🌟🌟"You don't just see the performance; you become fully immersed in the absurdity of the text" - Paul in London
🌟🌟🌟🌟"A must-see production" - London Living Large
Pupil: Hazel Caulfield
Professor: Luke Rees-Oliviere, Jerome Ngonadi
Marie: Julie Stark
Director: Max Lewendel
Senior Producer: Dylan Frankland
Producers: Isabelle Hayden, Ciara Wynne
Set Design: Christopher Hone
Costume Design: Isabella Van Braeckel
Associate Costume Designer: Lucy Fowler
Sound Design: Matt Downing
Lighting Design: Stevie Carty
Projection Design: Ben Glover
Illusionist: Patrick Ashe
Stage Managers: Harry Faulkner and David McDade
Assistant Director: Romane Cayez
Graphic Designer: TBC
Photographer: Bernadett Ostorhazi
Projection Design Assistants: Luke Davies and Ryan Samuel Davies
Intimacy Coordinator: Haruka Kuroda
Vocal Coach: Emma Vane
BSL Interpreter: Anna Kitson
Deaf consultant: Stephen Collins
Professor: James Marchant
Pupil: Hazel Caulfield
Director: Duncan Roe
Production Assistant: Clare Nordin
Pupil: Hazel Caulfield
Professor: Jerome Ngonadi
Marie: Cindy-Jane Armbruster
Stage Manager: Charlotte Hosking
Assistant Director: Annys Wyatt
Props Master: Clarice Montero
Production Associate: Tilly Phelan
Graphic Designer: Vincent Vyce
Our brand new Creative Captioning process, supported by Arts Council England, brings this play to deaf & hard of hearing audiences through projection integrated into the set and lighting design.
Creative captions offer an opportunity for deaf and hard of hearing audiences to more fully immerse themselves in a performance. Rather than appearing on a hard to read screen to the side of the stage, the captions are on stage, integrated into the set design, matching the style of the show and reflecting the characterisation and tone of the actors.
This creative approach ensures all performances are accessible as well as enhancing the creative story for hearing audiences as well.
Premiering at the Southwark Playhouse for a 4 week run, ahead of a UK tour to 40 venues.
"The Icarus Theatre Collective have produced an utterly sumptuous revival of a Ionesco classic, cleverly creating a rich atmosphere through lights, sounds and set that instantly grabs the audience."
"It is impossible not to enjoy Icarus Theatre Collective’s production of Ionesco’s one-act play. It is a perfectly cast piece of absurd theatre that will leave you scratching your head in wonder."
"Max Lewendel’s touring production succeeds by the strength of its acting and the steadily increasing tension... His direction introduces a more vivid sexuality than Peter Hall would have been permitted in 1955."
