Adapted for the stage by Booker Prize-winning author Samantha Harvey (Orbital) from the beloved novel by Barbara Pym, this is a wry and poignant ode to ageing, friendship and the strange poetry of everyday life.
In 1970s London, four co-workers approach retirement, each quietly marking time. As the seasons turn, they go about their daily rituals and routines. Marcia (Pooky Quesnel, The A Word) hoards tinned food and drifts into solitude. Letty (Kate Duchêne, The Worst Witch) dreams of something more. Edwin (Anthony Calf, New Tricks), a widower, finds refuge in the church. Norman (Paul Rider, Don’t Destroy Me) rails against modern life. Together, they form a quartet – a fragile compact to get through the days.
Marking the first ever stage adaptation of Barbara Pym’s Booker Prize-shortlisted novel, this is a world premiere directed by Dominic Dromgoole, former artistic director of Shakespeare’s Globe and the Bush Theatre.
Quartet in Autumn unfolds as a sharp, witty and keenly observed portrait of loneliness in a changing world, of the courage it takes to keep going, and the grace that can be found in the ordinary.
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Running time
2 hours 20 minutes (including interval) -
Age guidance
12+ -
Content warnings
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Discounts
Concessions available
Pay What You Can Tuesdays
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Captioned performance
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Relaxed performance
Praise for the novel Quartet in Autumn
“An exquisite, even magnificent work of art”– The Observer
“Very funny and keenly observant”– Financial Times
Rehearsal photography
The Company
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Anthony Calf
Edwin
Anthony Calf
Edwin
Anthony Calf’s extensive theatre credits include: The Hard Problem, The White Guard, The Power of Yes, Gethsemane, Never So Good, The False Servant, Betrayal, The Madness of George III (National Theatre); Fathers and Sons, Les Parents Terribles, The Hotel in Amsterdam (Donmar Warehouse); King Charles III (Broadway); Rock ‘n’ Roll, My Night With Reg (Royal Court and West End); Private Lives (West End); Twelfth Night (Manchester Royal Exchange); and numerous productions at Chichester Festival Theatre.
Television includes: Poldark, SAS: Rogue Heroes, Buccaneers, New Tricks, Midsomer Murders.
Films include: The Madness of King George, My Night With Reg, The Man Who Knew Infinity, Anna Karenina, The Children Act, King Lear.
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Kate Duchêne
Letty
Kate Duchêne
Letty
Kate Duchêne’s extensive Theatre credits include: Land of the Living, Hedda Gabler, Everyman, Iphigenia at Aulis, Women of Troy, Attempts on Her Life, A Woman Killed with Kindness, Waves, Hansel and Gretel (National Theatre); Henry V, Watch on the Rhine (Donmar Warehouse); The Country Wife, The Cherry Orchard, The Herbal Bed (Royal Shakespeare Company), Henry VIII (Shakespeare’s Globe), The Forbidden Zone (Amsterdam/Salzburg).
Television includes: Doctors, Casualty, New Blood (BBC TV), Cursed (Netflix), Foyle’s War, Afterlife, The Worst Witch, Midsomer Murders (ITV).
Films include: Roxanne and An Education.
She is regularly heard on BBC Radio 3 and 4.
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Pooky Quesnel
Marcia
Pooky Quesnel
Marcia
Pooky is best known for her role as Louise in the BBC’s The A Word and its spin-off Ralph & Katie. Recent screen credits include Moonflower Murders, Beyond Paradise, The Larkins, The Confessions of Frannie Langton, and Tip Toe, alongside earlier work in The Victim, Waterloo Road, Two Weeks to Live, and Ladhood.
On stage, she has appeared at the National Theatre, Royal Exchange, and Bristol Old Vic, with notable roles in Sweat, The Suicide, and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf and was most recently seen playing Lorin in Lavender, Hyacinth, Violet, Yew at the Bush Theatre. She is also a screenwriter, with credits on Casualty and Doctors.
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Paul Rider
Norman
Paul Rider
Norman
Paul has built an extensive career across stage, screen, and radio. His previous productions at the Arcola are Americans and Don’t Destroy Me. His other theatre work includes appearances at the Bristol Old Vic, RSC, Menier Chocolate Factory, Royal Court and fifteen productions at Shakespeare’s Globe. His roles have included classics, new writing, and musicals such as Chicago and Hairspray. Television credits range from drama and comedy, including Dinner Ladies, Victoria Wood with all the Trimmings, Doc Martin, Dangerous Liaisons and French and Saunders. His film appearances include Topsy-Turvy, Pond Life, Making Noise Quietly and A Cock and Bull Story.
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Barbara Pym
Author of the book
Barbara Pym
Author of the book
A writer from the age of sixteen, Barbara Pym has been acclaimed as ‘the most underrated writer of the century’ (Philip Larkin). Pym’s substantial reputation evolved through the publication of six novels from 1950 to 1961, then resumed in 1977 with the publication of Quartet in Autumn and three other novels. She died in 1980. She is the subject of a critically acclaimed biography, The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym by Paula Byrne.
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Samantha Harvey
Adaptor for the stage
Samantha Harvey
Adaptor for the stage
Samantha Harvey is the author of five novels and a memoir. She has also published essays and short stories in The Guardian, Granta and The New Yorker amongst others. She is a Professor of Creative Writing at Bath Spa University and a member of the Royal Society of Literature. Her books have been shortlisted for various prizes including the Orange Prize for Fiction, the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction, the Walter Scott Prize, the James Tait Black Prize and the Climate Fiction Prize. Her latest novel, Orbital, won the InWords Literary Award, the Hawthornden Prize for Literature and the 2024 Booker Prize.
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Dominic Dromgoole
Director
Dominic Dromgoole
Director
Dominic Dromgoole was Artistic Director of the Globe Theatre 2006-16, the Oxford Stage Company 1998-2005 and the Bush Theatre 1990-96. Since leaving the Globe he has mounted a year-long season of Oscar Wilde in the Vaudeville, directed one film and produced six with Open Palm Films, made a documentary on Shakespeare’s Folio and a concert film for Sky Arts. He has directed plays in the West End, on tour, in Spain, China and the US. He directed Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins with the London Philharmonic in 2024 and Eugene Onegin with Wild Arts in 2025. He published Astonish Me with Profile and has just finished his fifth book for Faber.
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Rachel Edwards
Associate Producer
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Ellie Wintour
Set & Costume Designer
Ellie Wintour
Set & Costume Designer
Ellie Wintour is a set and costume designer from London. Recent credits include After Miss Julie (Park Theatre), Da Vinci’s Laundry (Riverside Studios), Aether (Summerhall, Edinburgh / Jermyn Street 2026), Breaking Bach (EIF / Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment), Miles (Summerhall / Southwark Playhouse 2026), 855 – For Truth, Grounded (The Bridge Theatre, Brussels), Thanks for Having Me (Riverside Studios), Dead Dad Death Cult (Battersea Arts Centre), Florence (Pleasance / The Other Palace), Chef (The Gaiety Theatre / Scottish Tour) and Blizzard (Soho Theatre). As Associate Designer to Es Devlin credits include Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia Tour and The Crucible (The National Theatre, Gielgud Theatre).
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Skylar Turnbull Hurd
Lighting Designer
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Ella Wahlstrom
Sound Designer
Ella Wahlstrom
Sound Designer
Theatre credits include: The Ladies Football Club (Sheffield Crucible); Midsomer Murders: The Killings at Badger’s Drift (UK Tour); Endgame (Theatre Royal Bath); By Royal Appointment (Theatre Royal Bath, UK tour); Alice in Wonderland (Riverside Studios, Marylebone Theatre); Pinocchio; The Wicker Husband (Watermill Theatre); Power of Sail (Menier Chocolate Factory); Drop the Dead Monkey (UK Tour); The Unfriend (Wyndham’s, West End); Peter Pan Goes Wrong (Lyric, UK Tour; New York); A Christmas Carol (Alexandra Palace); The Hypochondriac (Sheffield Crucible); Bleak Expectations (Criterion Theatre); Rare Earth Mettle; Inside Bitch (Royal Court); Piaf (Nottingham Playhouse); Noises Off (Garrick Theatre); Jellyfish; Sometimes Thinking (National Theatre).
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Fay Powell-Thomas
Production Manager
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Bea Viña
Costume Supervisor
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Cara Dromgoole
Assistant Director
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Naomi Shanson
Stage Manager (on Book)
Naomi Shanson
Stage Manager (on Book)
Naomi is a London-based freelance Stage Manager. For the Arcola Theatre: Ukraine Unbroken and 54.60 Africa. Other recent credits include WEER (Cherry Lane Theatre—Off Broadway, Soho Theatre—Walthamstow) and The LeftBehinds (National Theatre Schools Tour). Naomi studied Stage Management at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.
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India Martin
Assistant Stage Manager
Book your tickets
Event Instance Listings
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Thu 7 May
7.30pm
Preview
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Fri 8 May
7.30pm
Preview
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Sat 9 May
7.30pm
Preview
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Mon 11 May
7.30pm
Preview
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Tue 12 May
7.30pm
Preview
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Wed 13 May
7.30pm
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Thu 14 May
7.30pm
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Fri 15 May
7.30pm
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Sat 16 May
3pm
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Sat 16 May
7.30pm
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Mon 18 May
7.30pm
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Tue 19 May
7.30pm
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Wed 20 May
7pm
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Thu 21 May
7.30pm
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Fri 22 May
7.30pm
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Sat 23 May
3pm
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Relaxed performance
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Sat 23 May
7.30pm
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Mon 25 May
7.30pm
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Tue 26 May
7.30pm
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Wed 27 May
7.30pm
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Thu 28 May
7.30pm
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Fri 29 May
7.30pm
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Sat 30 May
3pm
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Sat 30 May
7.30pm
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Mon 1 Jun
7.30pm
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Tue 2 Jun
7.30pm
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Wed 3 Jun
7.30pm
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Captioned performance
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Thu 4 Jun
7.30pm
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Fri 5 Jun
7.30pm
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Sat 6 Jun
3pm
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Sat 6 Jun
7.30pm
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Mon 8 Jun
7.30pm
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Tue 9 Jun
7.30pm
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Wed 10 Jun
7.30pm
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Thu 11 Jun
7.30pm
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Fri 12 Jun
7.30pm
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Sat 13 Jun
3pm
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Sat 13 Jun
7.30pm
This production is supported by
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Unity Theatre Trust