North West Theatre

The Swallowing Dark

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Lizzie Nunnery
Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse and Theatre503
20 Oct 11 to 29 Oct 11
Liverpool Playhouse

Canaan and his son have come a long way to escape the horrors of Zimbabwe under Mugabe. But when Martha asks him to revisit his darkest memories, he’s forced to fight for their lives a second time.

Martha needs only an honest tale, but is either of them who they seem, and is the truth ever a simple story?

Liverpool writer Lizzie Nunnery on The Swallowing Dark

Her first full-length play tackled the subject of immigrant slum-dwellers in boomtown Victorian Liverpool while she was one of the writing team on the Everyman’s sex workers’ drama Unprotected. Now Lizzie Nunnery has turned her attention to the thorny issue of asylum seekers in her new play The Swallowing Dark, due to be premiered in the reopened Playhouse Studio this month.
Liverpool Echo

...fast seeing Nunnery develop as one of the finest dramatist this city has produced for a generation... the audience are drawn in by some of Nunnery’s beautiful imagery... a fantastic, poignant and necessary play which sees Nunnery’s stature grow and grow
Liverpool Daily Post
...thought-provoking new play... there are times when the lyrical storytelling over-reaches itself and becomes somewhat unreal and stagey... gripping, committed performances from both actors... some inventive use of projection...
Liverpool Echo (Rating: 8/10)
The play soon begins to exert a relentless grip... A passionate and intense two hander... outstanding leads: Alysson Ava-Brown and Wil Johnson... eloquent writing... an astonishing piece of storytelling, lightened with deft humour, and made memorable by some truly stunning scenes...
What's On Stage (Rating: 4/5)
...an edge of your seat psychological drama... writing is both powerful in execution but also perfectly formed and at times masterly in its lyrical nature... credit to [Wil] Johnson and [Allyson] Ava-Brown who pull off pitch perfect performances... Director [Paul] Robinson... gives the piece real respect and handles the material in a crisp and fluid way...
The Public Reviews (Rating: 4/5)
...Nunnery's play seems... likely to explode with the force of its internal contradictions... Paul Robinson's production switches seamlessly... the performances take on an almost primal intensity... terse, interrogative style makes this closeted space in the Playhouse's eaves feel more like an incident room than an auditorium.
The Guardian (Rating: 4/5)