Synopsis

A small dark study and a large white villa, 1999
Various locations including a sound stage and Hitchcock’s inner sanctum, 1959

Alex, a late-forties academic, and his early-twenties student, Nicola, find themselves entwined in a complex exploration of film history and personal boundaries. The play opens with Nicola reading an essay aloud, critiquing a pivotal scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho.” Alex reveals an old film canister from the Gainsborough Library, proposing that Nicola join him in Greece to catalogue and possibly restore its contents. As they unravel the mysterious film, which hints at an unfinished Hitchcock project, their professional relationship blurs into a more personal and unsettling dynamic.

Simultaneously, the narrative shifts to 1959, where Hitchcock himself interacts with an unnamed Blonde, a stand-in for his iconic leading ladies. These scenes delve into Hitchcock’s complex and often troubling relationships with the women he directed, highlighting themes of control, objectification, and manipulation. As the two storylines interweave, the play scrutinises the power dynamics in both professional and personal realms, creating a tense and thought-provoking examination of artistic obsession and human vulnerability.