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The Lodger

(This is a past event and is no longer running)

By
Robert Holman

 

★★★★ “Downie and Le Touzel’s performances shine though” (The Stage)

“The play is full of symbolism, metaphor and subtext, and invites the audience to read into what is said and analyse the slightest gestures. Geraldine Alexander’s compelling dramaturgy crafted an intriguing maze of family history, and she works the actors excellently.” (London Theatre 1)

 

“I can’t undo what’s been said. My world changed this morning. I hope for the better, but we’ll see in the future.”

The Coronet Theatre presents an enlightening, cathartic and acerbic new play about identity, maturity and reconciliation from influential playwright Robert Holman, starring Penny Downie, Sylvestra Le Touzel, Matthew Tennyson and Iniki Mariano, and directed by Geraldine Alexander.

 

Sisters Dolly and Esther grow up in ultra-conservative Harrogate in the ‘60s. 50 years later, following the death of their mother, Dolly comes to stay with Esther – now a successful novelist and living in Little Venice with her younger, inscrutable lodger, Jude. The three go to Norway to meet the rock star grandfather Jude has only ever heard about. Instead, he meets Anila who changes his world. To make a new future these four people will have to be honest, heal old wounds and two sisters learn to laugh together again.

Robert Holman is a stalwart of British theatre, with his extensive writing career including commissions from The Royal Court, the Bush and the RSC. His play A Breakfast of Eels was produced at The Coronet Theatre in 2015.

 

CAST

Esther
Penny Downie

Dolly
Sylvestra Le Touzel

Jude
Matthew Tennyson

Anila
Iniki Mariano

 

CREATIVE TEAM

Writer
Robert Holman

Director
Geraldine Alexander

Set and Costume Designer
Richard Kent

Lighting Designer
David Plater

Composer and Sound Designer
Simon Slater

Casting Director
Katie Mozumder

Performances:

Fri 10 Sep – Sat 09 Oct 7:30pm

Matinee Performances: Sat 25 Sep & Thur 30 Sep 2:30pm

Auditorium

Tickets:

£22 previews (10-14 Sep)
£32, £27 standard
£20 concessions

Running Time:

Approximately 2.5 hours (including interval)

Contains strong language

Performances:

Fri 10 Sep – Sat 09 Oct 7:30pm

Matinee Performances: Sat 25 Sep & Thur 30 Sep 2:30pm

Auditorium

Tickets:

£22 previews (10-14 Sep)
£32, £27 standard
£20 concessions

Running Time:

Approximately 2.5 hours (including interval)

Contains strong language

Additional Information

Cover Photo – Mayumi Hirata
Production Photos – Tristram Kenton
Trailer – Matthew Bartlett

Special thanks to Geetika Jain for additional costumes (promotion trailer)

Robert Holman

Robert Holman writes plays of startling beauty, combining close observation of the way people behave with a thrilling and often fiercely uncompromising mastery of dramatic form. He is the playwright most admired by other playwrights. To Simon Stephens, he is “My favourite living writer.”

His work has been produced since the 1970s at the RSC, the West End, Royal Court Theatre and elsewhere in the UK. His plays include The Natural Cause; Mud; Outside the Whale; German Skerries (for which he won the George Devine Award); Other Worlds; Today; The Overgrown Path; Making Noise Quietly; Across Oka; Rafts and Dreams; Bad Weather; Holes in the Skin; and Jonah and Otto.

“Holman’s instinct for truth, and an unaffected ability to spot what’s poignant in it, is what one remembers: that, and a paradoxical impression of spare richness, astringent abundance.”The Times