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.
★★★★ “Keating has a unique and powerful skill of portraying minute nuances of vulnerability” – Everything Theatre
★★★★ “We suddenly feel emotionally invested in an object that remains untouched, unmoved” – Broadway World
★★★★ “A thoughtful and intriguing production” – LondonTheatre1
★★★★ “A performance full of emotional charge and nuanced manoeuvring” – Theatre Weekly
★★★★ “A story of both loneliness and renewal” – Theatre and Art Reviews
★★★★ “As directed by Lucy Bailey, the containment, powerlessness and inconsequence of one individual and his story, assumes a bitter poignancy” – London Box Office
