A Co-Production with

The play is set in the run-down eastern bloc apartment of squabbling sisters Anna and Lena. Initially the audience is presented with a web of lies and deception created by the stories and anecdotes Anna and Lena recall. The already edgy status quo is broken by the unexpected arrival of the mysterious Mathilde, battered and bloody after an apparent attack. She asks to be given refuge. After some argument, the sisters agree to take Mathilde on as a servant, a role she seems to accept without protest.

Gradually facts about the sisters' lives begin to emerge, while their web of subterfuge becomes even darker, with macabre secrets spilling out from every cupboard. Through Mathilde's constant questioning and desire for truth, the complex world of the two sisters slowly begins to crumble, forcing open the cracks in their relationship, and ultimately resulting in the play's disturbing revelation and unexpected climax.

The story, maze-like in its complexity, unnerves its audience with double bluffs, false memories and lies at every turn. Even the time-frame is deceptive - is the piece set in the 1930s, 1950s, the recent past, the present day? And exactly how much time elapses from the beginning of the story until its chilling climax? Is Anna mad, or do wolves really roam the city streets and the corridors of their apartment block? Each question is answered with yet more questions...

This dark, claustrophobic production has been hailed as Bedlam's greatest production and most adventurous work to date. Audiences were very enthusiastic, with many people (as in past tours) travelling great distances to see the show a second time!

Rory Wilton - Director

photographs copyright Steve Tanner/CAM

 

Anna and Lena live in virtual isolation, shut away in an attic apartment on the outskirts of a sinister Eastern European city. The two sisters cling desperately to memories of the lives they once led in the dark woods beyond the city – their lives before the wolves came. The unexpected arrival of Mathilde, a stranger from outside the city, threatens to destroy forever the sisters’ innocent and childlike view of the world beyond their apartment. A darkly psychological comedy.

Christopher William Hill - Writer

 

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