breaking point: drama festival

Curated by Owen Thomas James and brought to stage by Putney Theatre Company

Saturday 18th July  - Sunday  26th July 

Shows from 2pm at weekends and 7:30pm weekdays

Putney Arts Theatre - Main Stage

The Festival:

Nine gripping plays will take you on a journey through extremes of love, loyalty, desperation, and defiance, in a nine-day celebration of theatre. This festival will present plays which show just how far someone will go… to fight, to protect, to risk everything, or even save the world.

There will be a full line-up on the two Saturdays and Sundays, as well as weekday  evening performances Mon-Fri.

To book a ticket to see everything click here this will give you a festival pass to see all nine plays and the option to turn up whenever suits you.

To book for individual productions, please click on the title below of whichever piece you'd like to see.

The plays:

The Prudes by Anthony Neilson

Directed by Lucy Oglesby

Tonight is the last chance for Jess and Jimmy to save their nine-year relationship, and they're attempting it right in front of you. They haven't been intimate in fourteen months and four days. The wine is chilled, the pillows are ready, the mood music is playing. They still find each other attractive. They still make each other laugh. So, what's stopping them? As they strip away excuses and defences, this couple must confront uncomfortable truths about desire, consent, victimhood, and whose story it really is to tell.

A sharp, provocative comedy about intimacy and accountability, The Prudes asks: when the stakes are this high, can you ever really start over?

CAST: 

Jess - Kaya Kassanda

Jimmy - Stefan Sinclaire

The Girl in the Machine by Stef Smith

Directed by Lesley Strachan

What if you could escape? Not just for an hour, but forever. The Black Box promises exactly that – relief from the daily grind, a cure for depression, even eternal bliss. Everyone's getting one. It's the future. When Owen brings one home, Polly is sceptical. They have everything figured out: successful careers, a passionate marriage, plans for the life ahead. But as the headset's seductive pull takes hold, Polly watches the person she loves slip further and further away into a digital paradise she can't reach. And when the line between human and machine begins to blur, how do you hold onto someone who's already gone?

A gripping vision of technology's darkest promises, Girl in the Machine asks: what are we willing to lose in exchange for happiness?

CAST: 

Polly - Paige Evans 

Owen - Marshall Camden

Escaped Alone by Caryl Churchill

Directed by Carrie Cable

Apocalypse is in the air. On a summer afternoon, four women gather in a suburban back garden for tea. They're old friends – well, three of them are. The fourth, Mrs Jarrett, is a neighbour invited in from over the fence. They talk about cats, the weather, TV shows, the antique shop that replaced the old grocers. But something darker lurks beneath the surface. As the afternoon wears on, the line between the garden and the abyss grows thinner.

Caryl Churchill balances the catastrophic with the everyday, revealing that the real apocalypse might not be out there at all – it might be right here, under the sun, in the things we can't quite bring ourselves to say.

CAST: 

Sally - Suzanne Warre-Dymond 

Vi - Allison DeFrees

Lena - Rebecca Fallon 

Mrs Jarrett - Andrea Miller

Kiss Me by Richard Bean

Directed by Paula Robinson

London, 1929. Stephanie is a 32-year-old war widow facing a future without children. The First World War has left thousands of women like her. But her doctor has an unorthodox solution that goes against every expectation of the era: a surrogate father. But when Stephanie and Dennis meet in her bedroom, something shifts as two lost souls collide. Can they escape the guilt and ghosts of the past? Or will the rules they've broken pull them under?

A beautiful and intimate story about longing, survival, and the unexpected places we find connection in the wreckage of history.

CAST: 

Peter - Alex Rein 

Stephanie - Tasha Tomlinson

Precious Little Talent by Ella Hickson

Directed by Craig Legg

Fresh out of university with a first-class degree, mounting debt and no clear future, Joey arrives in New York from the UK, clinging to the promise that life was meant to turn out differently. Instead, she finds her estranged father unravelling. She has a chance encounter with Sam, an idealistic young American full of optimism who challenges her cynicism and forces her to confront the expectations she’s built her life around. But as hope collides with reality, Joey must decide what she’s willing to let go of.

Funny, raw and sharply observed, Precious Little Talent is a story about a generation sold a dream, and the difficult, messy process of figuring out who you are when it doesn’t come true.

CAST: 

Sam - Caleb Clarke

Joey - Jasmine Jones

George - Nick Hall

The Yalta Game by Brian Friel

Directed by Paddy Cooper

In the central square of Yalta, two strangers pass the time by inventing lives for the people around them. It’s a harmless game... or so it seems. When Dmitri strikes up a conversation with a mysterious woman, flirtation leads to an unexpected affair, and the stories they’ve been telling begin to blur with reality.

Brian Friel's adaptation of Chekhov's The Lady With the Dog is an intimate, playful and devastating story that asks: when does a story we tell about ourselves become the truth?

CAST: 

Gurov: David Lemkin 

Anna: Eloise Duffy

Trust by Roger Blitz

Directed by Alexa Adam

Just how cut-throat is the corporate world? Annie is told she’s been chosen for the job at a new company because she’s someone who can be trusted. But as she’s intrigued by her charismatic new boss and legal adviser, the promise of success suddenly seems suspiciously out of reach. Cracks begin to show, loyalties are tested, and Annie finds herself caught between ambition, integrity, and friendship.

Trust is a sharp, unsettling exploration of power, manipulation and the cost of believing in the wrong people – asking how far you’ll go, and what you’ll sacrifice, to belong.

CAST: 

Annie - Emma Newton

Jen - Esme Wright

Mike - Luke Sullivan

Carol - Stephanie Ormonde

Seven Second Theory by Megan Good

Directed by Emily Mark and Megan Good

John Doe is dying. He just doesn't know it yet. A man with no identity and no one to call is comatose with seven seconds left on the clock. According to the seven second theory, as the brain shuts down, it reveals your core memories, replaying an entire life in a matter of seconds. John's life is about to flash before his eyes. All of it. Join him on this funny, raw, and moving journey through a life lived just slightly wrong.

The Seven Second Theory asks: if you had seven seconds left to sum up your life, what would you see?

CAST: 

John Doe: Nick Thomas

Chorus: Aïssa Hussain, Nathalie Heesom-Green, Lewis Boost, Jaime Montgomery

Almenara by William Brann

Directed by Stuart Watson

Amid the chaos of the Spanish Civil War, the inhabitants of the village of Almenara hold an emergency meeting. Will the approaching troops be their saviours, or their executioners?

CAST: 

Mayor: Tracey Riordan

Sofia: Camille Thiaudiere

Mr Hidalgo: Craig Barrett

Isabel Hidalgo: Meg Davies

Diego: Francesco Ruvolo

Messenger: Chris Routledge

Tickets:

Tickets will be available for individual performances, or a bundle package will also be on offer, providing a discount for access to all nine plays.  To book tickets for individual productions, please click on the titles of the plays above, to book for a Festival Pass to see everything, please click here

Single show:

£10

£8 concessions inc PTC/G64 members

Bundle ticket for all nine plays including programme:

£60 

£48 concessions inc PTC/G64 members