Waste

by Harley Granville Barker

Private loss. Public scandal.

From 3 November 2015

Waste.Image: Charcoal on paper a man's head, smudged, by Valentin van der Meulen. ‘Untitled 07’. 2013.

Waste

Backstage at a hung parliament, visionary Independent Henry Trebell is co-opted by the Tories to push through a controversial Bill. Pursuing his cause with missionary zeal, he’s barely distracted by his brief affair with a married woman until she suffers a lethal backstreet abortion. Threatened by public scandal, the Establishment closes ranks and coolly seals the fate of an idealistic man.

Famously banned by the censors in 1907, Harley Granville Barker’s controversial masterpiece gathers a large ensemble to expose a cut-throat, cynical world of sex, sleaze and suicide amongst the political elite of Edwardian England.

Charles Edwards (This House, Strange Interlude) plays Henry Trebell.

 

Talks and events

In Context: Censorship in British Theatre Fri 20 November, 2 – 5pm
Roger Michell Mon 4 January, 6pm
Harley Granville Barker’s Agnes Colander Thu 14 January, 2.30pm

 

Image: Valentin van der Meulen. ‘Untitled 07’. 2013. Charcoal on paper. (private collection. Copyright Valentin van der Meulen / court. Alex Schlesinger gallery)

  • War Horse
  • The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
  • The Beaux' Stratagem - Portrait of an 18th century woman, collaged and retouched
  • The Red Lion. Blurred figure holding a football in a doorway, lit from behind
  • The Motherf**cker with the Hat. Illustration of a head with a hat but no face
  • Everyman - Chiwetel Ejiofor with cartoon finger pointing down at his head
  • Brainstorm. Teenage boy with blue exploding head
  • Three Days poster with title_new
  • Our Country's Good: illustration of a figure in the distance with a manacle on the fore-ground
  • People, Places and Things. Superimposed photo of a woman's head with her face repeated twice, once in red once blue
  • Jane Eyre. Woman in a pale dress with an image of flames projected onto her
  • National Youth Theatre: Consensual. 2 teenagers in school uniform, one with her hand over the boys mouth
  • National Youth Theatre: Wuthering Heights, Title in black, over a photo of a young woman dancing in a nightclub
  • National Youth Theatre: The Merchant of Venice, Title in white, over a B&W photo of a V for Vendetta mask
  • Husbands and Sons. Photo of Anne-Marie Duff
  • The Comedy of Errors. Watercolour illustration
  • As You Like It. Photo of Rosalie Craig
  • Waste. Image: Charcoal on paper a man's head, smudged, by Valentin van der Meulen. ‘Untitled 07’. 2013.
  • I Want My Hat Back. Cartoon animals in black agaist an orange background
  • Evening at the Talk House. A decomposing dessert on a cake stand
  • Here We Go, shadowy, blurred figures, blue against a white background
  • wonder.land - a grinning cartoon cat