Taking Steps

WEDNESDAY 24 MARCH - SATURDAY 29 MAY

Directed by Alan Ayckbourn

Set on three floors of a crumbling house - a reportedly haunted former brothel - TAKING STEPS follows the lives of its eccentric occupants over the course of a frantic 24 hours.

A builder, who has leased his house to Roland, a hard-drinking business tycoon, now wants to sell it to him to survive. And Roland wants to buy. But with a wife who is attempting to leave him, a brother-in-law who sends everyone to sleepwhen he talks, and a lawyer who manages to get into all the wrong beds, complications and confusions inevitably ensue...

Alan Ayckbourn's Private Fears in Public Places played at the Orange Tree on its way to New York. This is the first production he will have directed especially for the Orange Tree.

The cast includes: Stephen Beckett, Matthew Cottle, Anna Francolini, Adrian McLoughlin, Emily Pithon, and Michael Simkins.

'Ayckbourn's production is an absolute delight' ***** The Times, Dominic Maxwell.

'Riotously funny farce' **** The Guardian, Michael Billington (Number 1 in the week's Top 5 Theatre productions).

'If you're looking for belly laughs and the ludicrous, Taking Steps will deliver.' **** Evening Standard, Henry Hitchings.

'A bullseye of dazzling craft and rueful comic invention...the funniest, saddest show in London.' **** Sunday Express, Mark Shenton.

'Seriousness is undercut, prodded and poked – yet never discarded...This production shows that farce can be more than funny', **** Financial Times.

'Comedy bliss.' **** WhatsOnStage, Michael Coveney.

Evenings: 7.45pm
Thursday Matinees: 2.30pm
Saturday Matinees: 3.00pm

RUNNING TIME:
First half: 1 hour 15 mins
Interval: 15 minutes
Second half: 1 hour 5 minutes