The Slaves of Solitude

Based on Patrick Hamilton's black comedy novel

Following Terry Johnson's world premiere play Prism comes another new drama by Nicholas Wright, which takes us into the smoky and tense nights of Blitz-era England, which combines dark humor and melancholy as it follows an unlikely war heroine. An adaptation of Patrick Hamilton's 2007 novel, the play explores themes of social claustrophobia, loneliness and yearning, all the while maintaining a darkly comic thread running through.

Taking place in 1943 Henley-on-Thames, our protagonist Miss Roach has been bombed out of her London life, and forced to move into the Rosamund Tea Rooms boarding house, which is as grey and severe as its other residents. Her own personal war now involves a deluge of snide and petty microaggressions by the suffocating Mr. Thwaites, who subjects her to interrogations every supper time. Seeking an escape, Miss Roach heads out to a local pub, where she meets a handsome young American lieutenant; her life starts to look happier as a result. Alas, its not to last as a newcomer at the boarding house takes the room next to hers, and sets about upsetting the precarious internal balance of the entire building.