‘Look, I’m giving you another chance to show the world how talented you are. Take it. It’s worth the risk’
The UK premiere of Laura Eason’s smart comedy Sex With Strangers will be directed by Peter DuBois. Emilia Fox returns to Hampstead Theatre following the sell-out hit Rapture, Blister, Burn in 2014 to star in this multifaceted love story packed with hidden ambitions, soaring desires and secret agendas.
Olivia, an attractive and talented but underappreciated mid-career writer, is unexpectedly trapped overnight in a secluded, snowed-in B&B with Ethan, an equally attractive and wildly successful young blogger.
Her latest novel is an unsung masterpiece; his blog is being made into a movie. She prefers books; he prefers eBooks. She is anonymous; he has half a million Twitter followers. But opposites soon attract – passionately – as each realise they want more of what the other has. But the closer they get, the more they must confront the murky side of ambition, success and Wi-Fi…
Emilia Fox plays Olivia. Theatre credits includes Rapture Blisture Burn (Hampstead Theatre), Coriolanus, Richard II (Almeida Theatre), Good (Donmar Warehouse), Katherine Howard (Chichester Festival Theatre) and The Cherry Orchard (RSC & Albery Theatre). She is best known for portraying Dr. Nikki Alexander in Silent Witness (Series 8 – 19), other television credits include The Tunnel, The Casual Vacancy, The Scarlet Pimpernel and Pride and Prejudice. Film credits include The Carer, The Devil’s Harvest, Suspension Of Disbelief, A Thousand Kisses Deep, Ways To Live Forever, Dorian Gray and The Pianist.
Laura Eason is a Brooklyn-based playwright, screenwriter and musical book writer. Selected productions of her twenty produced plays include: Sex with Strangers (more than thirty productions in the U.S. and internationally), The Undeniable Sound of Right Now (Rattlestick Theatre and Women’s Project Theatre, NYC, published by DPS), The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Hartford Stage, CT; New Victory, NYC; People’s Light, PA; Actor’s Theatre, KY; KC Rep; St. Louis Rep; Denver Center, published by DPS) and Around the World in 80 Days (St. James Theatre, London; New Vic and Royal Exchange, UK; Lookingglass Theatre, Chicago; Baltimore Centerstage).
Peter DuBois returns to Hampstead Theatre after directing Rapture, Blister, Burn in 2014 which starred Emilia Fox. His other London theatre credits are All New People (Duke of York’s) and Becky Shaw (Almeida), and his New York credits include The Power of Duff (New York Stage and Film), Modern Terrorism, Becky Shaw (2009 Pulitzer finalist), Trust, All New People (Second Stage Theatre), Measure for Pleasure, Richard III, Biro, Mom, How Did You Meet the Beatles? (The Public Theater/ NYSF), and Jack Goes Boating, The View From 151st Street (LAByrinth Theater Company/The Public Theater). Peter is the Artistic Director at the Huntington Theatre Company, and has staged productions including A Little Night Music, Smart People, Sons of the Prophet, Vengeance is the Lord’s, The Miracle at Naples.
Full casting will be announced soon.
Sex With Strangers plays from 27 January – 4 March 2017.