White Liars & One for the Road

The show was composed of two one-act plays played in succession with a pause in between.

White Liars also stood for competition at the FEATS festival in Bad Homburg, on the evening of the 13th of May. Below is the extract of the FEATS Newsletter appreciation of the play:

"A round of applause greeted this production’s chunky set, representing the rooms of a fortune teller at the end of a deserted pier on the English coast. Indeed, admirable as it was to see something so solidly constructed, one wondered whether the fortune teller’s accommodation shouldn’t have been just a little less solid and somewhat more romantic, but the whole audience was in awe of the expertise shown by this group in transporting, setting and striking such a hefty construction. Indeed, ESOC was awarded the

Marcel Huhn/Bruno Boeye Trophy for Stage Management. In this play set in the Seventies, Sophie Lemberg presents herself as a baroness of the Holy Roman Empire, plying her end-of-pier trade as a fortune teller. One day, two young men visit her to have their fortunes told - Tom, a blond-haired, velvetsuited budding musician in a rock group called the White Liars, and Frank, his bearded, long-haired manager. Frank bribes the Baroness to change the reading of Tom, so as to persuade Tom to leave his (Frank’s) girlfriend alone. The Baroness, well oiled and ready to comply for a monetary consideration, uses Frank’s set of notes on Tom’s working class background and difficult childhood. The play moves swiftly and expertly through a series of twists and turns, at the end of which we find that no-one is who we

thought they were, and all three characters are left feeling wrung out and disillusioned. The Baroness is really Sophie Plotkin, the daughter of a deli owner and his gypsy wife; Tom had completely fabricated his working class life to aid his music career; and Frank’s love interest is in actual fact not the unfaithful girlfriend but Tom himself. The great energy and cracking pace of this production held us riveted and wanting to know how the plot unravels for all the characters, expertly and entertainingly played by all three. Melanie Zander playing Sophie, Baroness Lemberg, won the Blackie Award for Best Actress."

One for the Road

Pinter had been deeply concerned, for years, about official torture, subscribed to by so many governments, in particular, the Turkish Government. The catalyst for him writing 'One for the Road' however, came in 1984, after meeting two young Turkish women at a party, who seemed casually indifferent to the use of torture in their country. "Instead of strangling them, I came back immediately, sat down and, it's true, out of rage started to write One for the Road“, he told his biographer, Michael Billington. His play has certainly helped to raise awareness of these abuses of Human rights. Originally it was a response to what he had witnessed in Turkey - but, sadly it's relevance is both Worldwide and contemporary.

Both shows are performed under license agreement with Samuel French - London. The photos on the poster are licensed from IStockPhoto.