The Slaves of Solitude

‘I don’t know how I became so filled with hate. I find it shocking that I did. Somebody said to me that war affects us in all kinds of ways, and that drinking is only one of them. Perhaps hating people is another. Perhaps sex is too.’

1943, Henley-on-Thames. Miss Roach is forced by the war to flee London for the Rosamund Tea Rooms boarding house, a place as grey and lonely as its residents. From the safety of these new quarters, her war effort now consists of a thousand petty humiliations, of which the most burdensome is sharing her daily life with the unbearable Mr Thwaites.

But a breath of fresh air arrives in the form of a handsome American lieutenant and things start to look distinctly brighter. Until a new boarder moves into the room next to Miss Roach’s – outwardly friendly, she soon starts upsetting the precarious balance in the house.

Nicholas Wright’s play The Slaves of Solitude weaves a fascinating blend of dark hilarity and melancholy from Patrick Hamilton’s much-loved story about an improbable heroine in wartime Britain. The play premiered at Hampstead Theatre, London, in October 2017.

'Brilliantly transformed for the stage by Nicholas Wright… although there is some wonderful sly comedy from the start, [the play's] strength is in a humane, rueful, oddly hopeful understanding of loneliness and of the way we try to make real connections… no character is all bad, nor all good; even the most minor of them, in fleetingly sketched moments, reveal both their handicap and their hope. It’s lovely'— TheatreCat

'[A] witty, evocative, gnarly human drama… the home front is a hotbed here as people who look like heroes or villains reveal themselves to be more complex while they make their small but crucial claims for territory… wonderful'— The Times

'Nicholas Wright’s adaptation captures the familiar emotional notes of Hamilton’s fiction, the pervading loneliness, the melancholy, the use of booze as a crutch and a shield'— The Stage

“'Brilliantly transformed for the stage by Nicholas Wright... although there is some wonderful sly comedy from the start, [the play's] strength is in a humane, rueful, oddly hopeful understanding of loneliness and of the way we try to make real connections... no character is all bad, nor all good; even the most minor of them, in fleetingly sketched moments, reveal both their handicap and their hope. It's lovely'”

'Brilliantly transformed for the stage by Nicholas Wright… although there is some wonderful sly comedy from the start, [the play's] strength is in a humane, rueful, oddly hopeful understanding of loneliness and of the way we try to make real connections… no character is all bad, nor all good; even the most minor of them, in fleetingly sketched moments, reveal both their handicap and their hope. It's lovely'

'[A] witty, evocative, gnarly human drama… the home front is a hotbed here as people who look like heroes or villains reveal themselves to be more complex while they make their small but crucial claims for territory… wonderful'

'Nicholas Wright's adaptation captures the familiar emotional notes of Hamilton's fiction, the pervading loneliness, the melancholy, the use of booze as a crutch and a shield'

Patrick Hamilton was one of the twentieth century's greatest novelists and dramatists, whose significant contribution to literature has often been overlooked. Born in Hassocks, Sussex in 1904, Hamilton spent his early years in Hove. His first novel, Monday Morning was published in 1925, quickly followed by Craven House (1926).Among his novels are The Midnight Bell (1929), The Siege of Pleasure (1932), The Plains of Cement (1934), Hangover Square (1941), The Slaves of Solitude (1947) and The Gorse Trilogy, which is comprised of The West Pier (1952), Mr Stimpson and Mr Gorse (1953) and Unknown Assailant (1955).Hamilton's trilogy 20,000 Streets Under the Sky (1929–34) was adapted into a successful BBC Four series in 2005, directed by Simon Curtis.His plays include the psychological thrillers Rope (1929) – on which Alfred Hitchcock's 1948 film Rope was based – and Gaslight (1938), which gave rise to the term gaslighting: a form of psychological abuse in which a victim is manipulated into questioning his or her sanity.Hamilton died in 1962 of liver and kidney failure, after a long struggle with alcohol.Nicholas Wright is a leading British playwright. His plays include: 8 Hotels (Minerva Theatre, Chichester, 2019); an adaptation of Patrick Hamilton's novel The Slaves of Solitude (Hampstead Theatre, 2017); an adaptation of Pat Barker's novel Regeneration (Royal & Derngate, Northampton, 2014); Travelling Light (National Theatre, 2012); The Last of the Duchess (Hampstead Theatre, 2011); Rattigan's Nijinsky (Chichester Festival Theatre, 2011); The Reporter (National Theatre, 2007); a version of Emile Zola's Therese Raquin (National Theatre, 2006); an adaptation of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials (National Theatre, 2003-4); Vincent In Brixton (National Theatre, 2002; winner of the Olivier Award for Best New Play); a version of Luigi Pirandello's Naked (Almeida Theatre, 1998); and Mrs Klein (National Theatre & West End, 1988).His writing about the theatre includes Changing Stages: A View of British Theatre in the Twentieth Century, co-written with Richard Eyre.

1943, Henley-on-Thames. Miss Roach is forced by the war to flee London for the Rosamund Tea Rooms boarding house, which is as grey and lonely as its residents. From the safety of these new quarters, her war now consists of a thousand petty humiliations, of which the most burdensome is sharing her daily life with the unbearable Mr. Thwaites.But a breath of fresh air arrives in the form of a handsome American Lieutenant and things start to look distinctly brighter... Until, that is, a seeming friend moves into the room adjacent to Miss Roach's, upsetting the precariously balanced ecosystem of the house...Nicholas Wright's new play weaves a fascinating blend of dark hilarity and melancholy from Patrick Hamilton's much-loved story about an improbable heroine in wartime Britain.The Slaves of Solitude had its world premiere at Hampstead Theatre, London, in 2017.

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