Origin Theatrical | Old Times

Full Length Play
Drama

Time Period: Contemporary
Target Audience: Adult
Set Requirements: Interior Set

Performance Group:
Shoestring Budget, College Theatre / Student, Blackbox / Second Stage /Fringe Groups, Professional Theatre

"What am I writing about? Not the weasel under the cocktail cabinet...I can sum up none of my plays. I can describe none of them, except to say: this is what happened. This is what they said. That is what they did." - Harold Pinter

Deeley and his wife Kate are visited by Anna, an old friend of Kate's, who they haven't seen in over 20 years. Anna launches into recollecting memories of concerts and other bohemian haunts the two women shared while young and living together in London. When the memories become more than just stories and prove to be a tool to vie for Kate's attention, Deeley also begins to bring up stories that are almost too clear to be true. However it's Kate's memory that gives the play it's shocking conclusion.

REVIEWS:

"Transfixing... cunning, sexy, ultimately highly disturbing."
The New York Times

"Deeply unnerving, baffingly brilliant... totally gripping."
The Telegraph

"So resonant... exposes the way we shape the past according to the psychological needs of the present."
The Guardian

Premiere Production: Old Times was first presented by the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Aldwych Theatre, London, on June 1, 1971. It was revived at the Donmar Warehouse, London, in July 2004.

Origin

Old Times

Description

Characters

Available Material

Lover, The

Dumb Waiter, The

Birthday Party, The

Basement, The

Betrayal