going house to house,
door to door –
knock knocking –
professional doorstep hopping,
hoping that someone might show an interest.
The earth grumbles. Growling. Rising. The city street-lamps flicker up. We’re in a field somewhere in London. A pedlar boy awakes lying on the grass, in his hand a firework. How did he get here? To answer that question he must venture back to the very start via the doorsteps of privileged London and the cracks that swallow thousands of young Londoners every year.
Harry Melling’s poetic début play opened to acclaim at the annual HighTide Festival and Off-Broadway. For its premiere in London, the author again performs his own work. A moving exploration into family, identity and the 6000 Londoners who sleep rough every night on the Capital’s streets.
★★★★ Daily Mail
‘An accomplished debut and a painfully moving study.’
★★★★ Financial Times
‘A memorable writing debut.’
★★★★ Evening Standard
‘Exciting, unique and memorable.’
★★★★ The Times
‘Melling’s solo show has a feverish intensity.’
The Independent
‘Feels like the intersection of Beckett and Albee… Powerful and delicately calibrated.’
The New York Times (Critics’ Choice)
‘An electrifying new show’s in town… inventive staging and an explosive performance.’
The New York Post
‘As keenly directed by Steven Atkinson, the actor is completely magnetic.’
Entertainment Weekly
‘A gutsy debut play by a first-class stage actor and an original new voice in British theater.’
★★★★★ Exeunt
Out of this world extraordinary – a must-see experience.’
BroadwayWorld.com
‘A modern classic in the making.’
★★★★★ The Public Reviews
An exhilarating debut.’
The Stage
‘A compelling one-man play written and performed by Harry Melling.’
★★★★ The Guardian
‘Groundbreaking… a joy to watch.’
★★★★ The Telegraph
‘It is a remarkable writing debuet and a storming performance.’
★★★★ Libby Purves
‘An exhilarating transmogrification for the former Harry Potter screen star.’
★★★★ The Times
Harry Melling began his acting career at eleven years-old appearing in the Harry Potter films playing Dudley Dursley. He subsequently went on to train at LAMDA and has since appeared in: Mother Courage and her Children and Women Beware Women (both National Theatre); School for Scandal (Barbican and Holland Theatre Festival); The Hothouse and When Did You Last See My Mother? (both Trafalgar Studios) and King Lear, playing the Fool (Chichester Festival Theatre and BAM).
