Play name
The Son
By Florian Zeller; translated from the French by Christopher Hampton
Director and Contact Details
Hilary Cordery
Playing dates
7th-16th May (Including charity night); Matinee and evening performances on Saturday 9th May. No performance Sunday 10th May
Get-in and Strike
Get-in Sunday 19th April; Strike Sunday 17th May
Venue
Bromley Little Theatre Main House
Audition
Sunday 9th November at 3:30pm
About the play
Nicolas, just two years ago a smiling boy, is going through a difficult phase after his parents’ divorce. He’s listless, skipping classes, lying.
He believes moving in with his father and his new family may help. And a different school, a fresh start. When he doesn’t feel comfortable there, when he senses he isn’t wanted, he decides that going back to his mother’s may be the answer.
But at some point, options are going to dry up. And then what? ‘I’m telling you. I don’t understand what’s happening to me.’
Florian Zeller’s The Son forms the final part in a trilogy with The Mother and The Father, all of which have been translated by Christopher Hampton. The Son premiered at the Kiln Theatre, London, in February 2019.
Time
The present
Location
Various locations
Style and Genre
Modern award winning drama.
Characters
Nicholas – large role, ‘the Son’. Playing age 18. Struggles with mental health/depression for reasons that he doesn’t understand. Will require an actor who can deliver a performance of real emotional depth.
Peter – large role, Nicholas’s father. Playing age 40’s – 50’s. A lawyer, driven by work. Wants to be a better father to Nicholas than his own father was to him but finds it difficult to understand/connect with his son. Has a breakdown at one point.
Anne – medium role, Nicholas’s mother. Playing age 40’s – 50’s. Unable to cope with Nicholas’s erratic behaviour, it is Anne’s decision to reach out to her former husband for help that is the catalyst for the events in the play. Warm, sympathetic but also struggles to understand her son.
Sophia – medium role, Peter’s 2nd wife and Nicholas’s stepmother. Playing age 30’s. Wants to protect the new life she has built with Peter and their baby son and sees Nicholas as something of an obstacle to that.
Psychiatrist – medium/small role. Male or female. Playing age in range of 40’s – 60’s. Authoritative, professional, confident in his/her expertise.
Nurse – small role. Male. Playing age 20’s – 30’s.
Audition pieces
Nicholas
Page 86 (Nicholas: ‘Mum!’) through to page 88 (Anne: ‘We’ve missed you as well’), (Anne, Peter and nurse to read in)
Peter and Nicholas
Page 72 (Peter: “All right, I’m going to explain to you how things are going to be”) through to page 74 (Peter: “You hear me? It’s my life!”)
Anne
Page 30 (Anne: “I never imagined he’d leave the house.”) through to end of scene, (Peter to read in)
Sophia
Page 57 (Nicholas: “Do you want me to look after him?”) through to page 59 (Sophia “I mean, let’s face it, open your eyes, he’s not right in the head!”), (Nicholas and Peter to read in)
Psychiatrist
Page 88 (Psychiatrist: “I expect Nicholas has communicated to you that he wishes to leave the hospital”) through to page 90, (Nicholas: “It’s a bunch of crap”), (Peter, Anne and Nicholas to read in)
Nurse
Page 86 (start of scene 15) through to page 87 (Nurse: “I’ll be right back”), (Anne, Peter and Nicholas to read in)
Possible additional audition piece, depending on time: Anne and Nicholas
Page 65 (Nicholas “I’ll never manage it”) through to end of the scene.