Brimstone and Treacle by Dennis Potter

Pics: Judie Waldmann

Creative

 

Directed by Amelia Sears

Design Alex Eales

Lighting Richard Howell

Sound Elena Pena

 

 

Cast

 

Rupert Friend

Matti Houghton

Tessa Peake-Jones

Ian Redford

“All I want is the England I used to know… When you knew where you were and all the houses had gardens and old ladies could feel safe in the street at night.”

 

SEARED in association with the Arcola Theatres stages the first major London revival of Dennis Potter’s most controversial play. Renowned for being banned before transmission by the BBC, Brimstone and Treacle‘s glimpse into suburban paranoia, xenophobia and insularity is as revealing and relevant today as it was in the 1970s.

 

North London, Summer, 1977. As a nation prepares to celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s Silver Jubilee, a middle-class, middle-aged couple struggle to come to terms with the incapacitation of their daughter following a hit-and-run car accident. Out of nowhere, an apparently respectable young man arrives on their doorstep to change their lives forever…

 

A twisted allegory about fear, faith, morality, and the incomprehensible randomness of good and evil.

 

REVIEWS

 

★ ★ ★ ★ Telegraph – “Potter…thought Brimstone and Treacle his best play. Amelia Sears revival argues the contentious case for it superbly well”

 

★ ★ ★ ★ Independent – “…Sears production…furthers the case for it as Potter’s best work…Tessa Peake-Jones is sensational”

 

★ ★ ★ ★ Evening Standard – “…a powerful revival from Amelia Sears”

 

★ ★ ★ ★ Whatsonstage.com – “…a champion revival”

 

★ ★ ★ ★ The Arts Desk – “Brimstone and Treacle is well worth revisiting; more than that, it feels surprisingly relevant”

 

★ ★ ★ ★★ Exeunt Magazine – “Amelia Sears superb revival…it’s hard to imagine a more relevant play for today”

 

British Theatre Guide – “A captivating and compassionate theatrical experience”

 

The Stage – “…Peake-Jones…beautifully captures a frustrated, lonley housewife also awakened by this smooth agent of chaos”