Nick Hern Books 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.