Directors’ Festival: The City A couple, their neighbour, and the problems with modern city living

Directors’ Festival: The City

The Wardrobe Theatre

Key Information
  • Dates Fri 06 May 2022 - Sat 07 May 2022
  • Location The Wardrobe Theatre
  • Ticket Price

    Tickets £10 per double bill
    £35 for a festival ticket

  • Times

    7.30pm; 2.30pm matinee

  • Written by Martin Crimp
    Directed by Aaron Finnegan
    Designed by Fiona McKeon

A couple, their neighbour, and the problems with modern city living

I don’t know. Nothing feels right. Everything—don’t you think?—seems awkward and artificial.”

Chris and Clair live in the middle of the city. Chris works for a multinational corporation, and Clair translates other people’s work while never actually putting her own stories down on paper. When Chris loses his job and summer starts to drag on, the cracks in their relationship begin to show.

Their neighbour, Jenny, comes over to complain about the noise their children make in the back garden, her busy life as a nurse, the secret war her husband is fighting in a far-off country, her piano playing, and the fact she can’t sleep.

In Martin Crimp’s razor sharp dreamscape, they start to question the meaning of their words, and the fabric of their collapsing world

This amateur production of The City is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals Ltd on behalf of Samuel French Ltd. This play is part of a double bill with Stockholm as part of Directors’ Festival 2022.

Cast

Chris Alex Crook

Clair Camilla Aiko

Jenny Rhea Norwood

Girl Monsikelah Ward

Creative and Technical Team

Director Aaron Finnegan

Designer Fiona McKeon

Voice Coach Charlie McCollom-Cartwright

Lighting Designer and Operator Ellie Gendall

Sound Designer and Operator Danielle Davis

Costumer Supervisor Grace Green

Assistant Production Manager Joe Culpin

Stage Manager Maisy Halbert

Deputy Stage Manager Ellie Gendall

Students drinking coffee in Clifton Village
The training provided by the MFA programme is superb. The depth with which we explore, paired with unyielding curiosity that is met with the most knowledgeable, passionate, expert tutors is what makes BOVTS programme one of the finest around. I feel honoured to call BOVTS my grad school. Rachel McVay, MA Professional Acting Student