Step into the strange, funny, and heartbreakingly human world of Clive, the riveting new one-person play by Olivier and BAFTA award-winning playwright Michael Wynne.
Directed by the acclaimed Lucy Bailey and starring the incomparable Paul Keating, Clive is a deeply affecting exploration of isolation, identity, and the quiet chaos of working from home.
The story follows Thomas, who is charming, quirky, and seemingly in control. He’s crafted a perfectly manageable life from the safety of his flat, working remotely and confiding in his closest companion: Clive, a towering cactus. But as pressures mount and long-buried truths resurface, his calm routine gives way to unravelling realities.
Set against the backdrop of a post-pandemic world, Clive is a timely, tender, and darkly comic reflection on the double-edged sword of technology and the creeping silence of modern isolation. With Wynne’s wit and emotional depth, and Bailey’s sharp direction, this play cuts to the core of contemporary life with insight and originality.
Keating, whose past collaborations with Bailey (including Kenny Morgan and Murder on the Orient Express) have captivated audiences, returns with what promises to be a tour-de-force performance. Clive is theatre at its most personal, urgent, and alive. Don’t miss this captivating new work.
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Running time
60 minutes -
Age guidance
12+
“Keating has a unique and powerful skill of portraying minute nuances of vulnerability”
“We suddenly feel emotionally invested in an object that remains untouched, unmoved”
“A thoughtful and intriguing production”
“A performance full of emotional charge and nuanced manoeuvring”
“A story of both loneliness and renewal”
“As directed by Lucy Bailey, the containment, powerlessness and inconsequence of one individual and his story, assumes a bitter poignancy”
Trailer

Production photos











The Company
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Paul Keating
Thomas
Paul Keating
Thomas
Paul is currently appearing in Lucy Bailey’s production of Murder on the Orient Express as Hector MacQueen. Other theatre credits include: Animal Kingdom (Hampstead Theatre); Guy in My Night With Reg (Turbine Theatre); Little Miss Sunshine (Arcola Theatre); the title role in Kenny Morgan (Arcola Theatre and BBC Radio 3); The Goodbye Girl (Upstairs at the Gatehouse); Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz (London Palladium); Tick,Tick BOOM! (Duchess Theatre); Blowing Whistles (Leicester Square Theatre); Buttons in Stephen Fry’s Cinderella (The Old Vic); Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors (Duke of York’s Theatre); Gladiator Games (Theatre Royal Stratford East); Don Carlos (Gielgud Theatre); A Little Night Music (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre); The Full Monty (Prince of Wales Theatre); Straight Dave in Closer to Heaven (The Arts Theatre – Olivier Award nomination); La Cava (Piccadilly Theatre); Assassins (New End Theatre); the title role in Tommy (Shaftsbury Theatre – Olivier Award nomination); Lost in Yonkers (Novello Theatre) and Gavroche in Les Misérables (Palace Theatre). TV credits include: Silent Witness, Casualty, Against the Low, Holby City, EastEnders, Ambassador, Troublemakers, Humans, Injustice, Metrosexuality, Secret Britain, Penpics & The Bill. Film credits include: Birthday Boy, Isodate, The Brothers Marterana, Strip, Bring Me the Head of Mavis Davis and Jesus Christ Superstar.
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Michael Wynne
Writer
Michael Wynne
Writer
Michael Wynne is an Olivier and BAFTA winning playwright. He’s had 5 plays performed at the Royal Court Theatre – The Knocky, The People Are Friendly, The Priory, Who Cares and Cuckoo. His first play The Knocky won the Meyer Whitworth Award for Best New Play and The Priory won the Olivier Award for Best New Comedy. He’s also written plays for Frantic Assembly – Sell Out and Dirty Wonderland, Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse – Hope Place and The Star, Chichester Festival Theatre – Canvas and Actors Touring Company – The Boy Who Left Home. He’s written extensively for TV and film including Lapland, Being Eileen, As If, Sugar Rush, Grafters and Where The Heart Is. He co-wrote the film My Summer of Love which won the BAFTA for Best British Film and the Evening Standard Award for Best Screenplay. He currently has a show playing at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas –DiscoShow.
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Lucy Bailey
Director
Lucy Bailey
Director
Lucy Bailey’s recent productions include: Murder on the Orient Express (Lowry theatre, UK tour); The Other Boleyn Girl (Chichester Festival Theatre); And Then There Were None (UK & China tour); Glass Human (Glyndebourne Touring Opera); Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare’s Globe 2022); The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (UK & New Zealand tour); Oleanna (Bath Ustinov/ Arts Theatre, West End); Switzerland (Bath Ustinov/West End);; Cave (a site specific opera for London Sinfonietta and Royal Opera House, at the Print Works London); The Graduate (West Yorkshire Playhouse/Leicester Curve); Comus, A Masque In Honour Of Chastity (Sam Wanamaker Playhouse); and Kenny Morgan (Arcola). Other theatre credits include: Titus Andronicus, Macbeth, Timon of Athens, As You Like It, The Maid’s Tragedy (Shakespeare’s Globe); The Winter’s Tale, Taming of the Shrew, Julius Caesar (RSC/Stratford/London/New York); Baby Doll, The NightSeason (National Theatre/West End).
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Mike Britton
Designer
Mike Britton
Designer
Mike trained at Falmouth School Of Art and in Theatre Design at Wimbledon School Of Art.
His designs have been seen all over the UK and in the West End as well as internationally in Tokyo, New York, China and Europe. He now splits his time between stage and screen projects and is currently working with Lucy on a new stage adaption of ‘Death On The Nile’.
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Elizabeth Khabaza
Stage Manager
Elizabeth Khabaza
Stage Manager
Elizabeth Khabaza is a stage manager with a BA Theatre Practice (Stage Management) from RCSSD and an MA Producing from Met Film School. She has worked professionally since 2014 across UK theatres and tours. Her recent credits include Six of Calais (Royal Academy of Music Theatre), Torch Song (The Turbine Theatre), Toys (The Pump House), and The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives (Arcola Theatre).
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Chris Davey
Lighting Designer
Chris Davey
Lighting Designer
Recent designs include A Good House (Royal Court); Death of England (Sohopl@ace); The Other Boleyn Girl (Chichester Festival Theatre); Witness for the Prosecution (London County Hall); And Then There Were None (National &International Tour); 42nd Street (Théatre du Chatêlet, Paris); Tarantino Live (Riverside Studios); Touching the Void (Bristol Old Vic/Duke of York’s London/Tokyo); Macbeth (West Yorkshire Playhouse); Sweeney Todd (Welsh National Opera/La Monnaie, Brussels); Carlos Acosta Classical Farewell (Royal Albert Hall).
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Nick Powell
Sound Designer
Nick Powell
Sound Designer
Nick Powell is a London-based composer and sound designer. He is currently composing the music for ‘Our Story’, David Attenborough’s immersive film at the Natural History Museum. Through his work with Sam Mendes, he has been nominated for 3 Tony awards, an Olivier Award and has won a Drama Desk and Outer Critic’s circle award. He releases music under his own name, as Eyecandy and as OSKAR.
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Brent Tan
Production Manager
Brent Tan
Production Manager
Brent Tan is a Singaporean Production Manager and freelance producer currently based in London. Specialising in Touring Production, Brent has a rich portfolio that spans international touring, immersive, and interactive theatre. His work emphasises cultural diversity and storytelling that bring unique narratives to a wide range of audiences.
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Charlie Flint
Photography
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Matthew ‘Lux’ Swithinbank
Production Electrician
Special thanks to Ayse Tashkiran.