Bill Nighy squirms through family ruin while tea goes cold and everything hurts.
There is a strained atmosphere in the Maitland household which has fallen on hard times.
Acting
Nighy's crumbling dignity; Atkins's devastating matriarch.
Production
Crumbling manor as character—every peeling wallpaper tells a story.
Writing
Wit so dry it could start a fire.
Director
Lindsay Posner
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Adapted from a 1943 novel by Margaret Kennedy, who also wrote 'The Constant Nymph'—she specialized in families destroyed by passion and property.
Posner staged this during his early National Theatre career; the static, theatrical blocking mirrors the characters' trapped, performative lives.
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