A politically relevant play for 2017

First performed in 1985 during the Reagan era, it seems that Sam Shepard's play is as politically relevant in 2017 Trump's world as it was then. Coming to the Southwark Playhouse this May, Lie Of The Mind will be helmed by James Hillier, making this the third Shepard play to appear in London in recent months, alongside Fool for Love and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Buried Child, which starred Hollywood actor Ed Harris. Set in a bleak and cold Montana, domestic violence inflicted on a wife by her husband turns their two families against the other in an explosive series of events and the tragic aftermath.

Originally starring Harvey Keitel, Amanda Plummer, Aidan Quinn, Geraldine Page and Will Patton, the play is a strong indictment of the justice and hospital system in supporting victims of abuse, as well as how dysfunctional love can warp minds and lead to devastating violence. As both families try to tell their perceived version of events that led to Beth's beating and subsequent brain damage, there is one final confrontation in an isolated cabin that changes all of their lives forever.