Skip to main content
2007

The Pain and The Itch

Written by Bruce Norris

Play Details

Context

Artistic Director 
Dominic Cooke

Dates Performed

Thursday 14th June 2007
Jerwood Theatre Downstairs

Play Details

Synopsis

An upscale suburban home during a tense Thanksgiving dinner

As Clay and Kelly host their relatives – including brother Cash, mother Carol, and the enigmatic Kalina – their veneer of progressive values crumbles, exposing the hypocrisy and prejudice lurking beneath.

Norris’s razor-sharp dialogue and dark humour create a pressure cooker atmosphere, where a mysterious rash afflicting the couple’s child becomes a potent metaphor for the family’s moral decay. Through a series of increasingly uncomfortable revelations, The Pain and the Itch savagely dissects themes of privilege, liberal guilt, and the gap between ideals and actions. The play serves as a mirror to the audience, forcing a confrontation with the contradictions of modern, upper-middle-class life.

Director(s)

Dominc Cooke

Cast & Creative

Cast

Abdi Gouhad

Cast

Matthew Macfadyen

Cast

Sara Stewart

Cast

Hannah Gunn

Cast

Sharon Kelly

Cast

Angelica Trew

Cast

Peter Sullivan

Cast

Andrea Riseborough

Cast

Amanda Boxer

Designer

Robert Innes Hopkins

Lighting

Hugh Vanstone

Sound

Paul Arditti

You may also like...

Rock 'n' Roll

Rock 'n' Roll

2006

Tom Stoppard

The Removalists

The Removalists

1973

David Williamson

One For Sorrow

One For Sorrow

2018

Cordelia Lynn