London
Quartet In Autumn
Adapted for the stage by Booker Prize-winning author Samantha Harvey (Orbital) from the beloved novel by Barbara Pym, this is a wry and poignant ode to ageing, friendship and the strange poetry of everyday life.
In 1970s London, four co-workers approach retirement, each quietly marking time. As the seasons turn, they go about their daily rituals and routines. Marcia (Pooky Quesnel, The A Word) hoards tinned food and drifts into solitude. Letty (Kate Duchêne, The Worst Witch) dreams of something more. Edwin (Anthony Calf, New Tricks), a widower, finds refuge in the church. Norman (Paul Rider, Don’t Destroy Me) rails against modern life. Together, they form a quartet – a fragile compact to get through the days.
Marking the first ever stage adaptation of Barbara Pym’s Booker Prize-shortlisted novel, this is a world premiere directed by Dominic Dromgoole, former artistic director of Shakespeare’s Globe and the Bush Theatre.
Quartet in Autumn unfolds as a sharp, witty and keenly observed portrait of loneliness in a changing world, of the courage it takes to keep going, and the grace that can be found in the ordinary.
