The Swallowing Dark

Thu 20 Oct to Sat 29 Oct 2011

PLAYHOUSE STUDIO

Your pain's your own; mine's a parade…

Canaan and his son have come a long way to escape the horrors of Zimbabwe under Mugabe. But now, as their legal status in Britain hangs in the balance, Canaan is forced to fight for their lives for a second time.

When case worker Martha asks him to revisit his darkest memories, they both find that truth is never a simple story.

In this lyrical play about identity and transformation, African folklore meets urban landscape to explore the difficulty of trauma and memory, and how lives can hang on the telling of a good story. 

Re-opening the Playhouse Studio, this world première of Lizzie Nunnery’s The Swallowing Dark is a psychological thriller that combines devastating power with the telling of a good story.

A Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse and Theatre 503 production

Company

Cast Allyson Ava-Brown & Wil Johnson

Writer Lizzie Nunnery

Director Paul Robinson

Designer Alex Eales

Lighting Designer Richard Howell

Projection & Video Design Louise Rhodes-Brown for Knifedge

Composer Peter Coyte

Sound Designer & Video Programmer Xenia Bayer

Costume Supervisor Jacquie Davies

Dialect Coach Claudette Williams

Movement Coach Bernadette Iglich

Casting Director Annie Rowe

Reviews

The Swallowing Dark

★★★★
“One still suspects that Nunnery has larger plays bubbling up inside her”

The Guardian