Synopsis

Paul Peplow stands at the edge of a glittering abyss, one hand clutching a half-empty notebook, the other reaching for a glass that isn’t there. This tousle-haired poet turned reluctant copywriter finds himself thrust into the orbit of Victor Quinn, a tech mogul whose charisma burns as bright as the screens of a thousand computers. As Paul navigates the sleek corridors of Flotilla Software, he’s drawn inexorably towards Victor’s wife, Elsa – a Danish sphinx whose eyes hold the promise of both salvation and ruin.

The play unfolds like a fever dream, shimmering with the heat of a London summer and the intoxicating vapours of desire and dependency. Hare’s razor-sharp dialogue crackles with wit and tension, each exchange a dangerous dance on the knife-edge between sobriety and relapse. As margaritas glisten in the fading light of Victor’s terrace, Paul finds himself caught in a intoxicating menage-a-trois of the mind, where the boundaries between mentor, muse, and temptress blur like watercolours in the rain. Through Paul’s journey, Hare paints a searing portrait of a society drunk on its own disillusionment, where faith in anything – be it love, capitalism, or oneself – comes at a devastating price. “