at St Martins Youth Arts Centre from the 25th of June - 7th of July, 2019
TUSK TUSK
by POLLY STENHAM
"Shhhh.... Be still! There's a man upstairs ... When I stop the music, the first person to move has to leave the room. Those are the rules as they stand..."
A ghost story without a ghost. In a bare bones London town house, three siblings, haunted by the sudden disappearance of their mother, wait desperately for her call. Elliot, makes up the rules; the outlaw Finn, draws on the walls; while 'mother' Maggie climbs them… They count hours, minutes, seconds and sheep as they try desperately, to fall asleep.
Few playwrights who have arrived on British stages in the last ten years have provoked more fascination or excitement than Polly Stenham.Tusk Tusk is an eloquent study in escalating anxiety. Our three motherless siblings are hopelessly entrapped, dependent on a phone-call that never comes. Painfully knowing that if and when they advertise their plight, they will be split up, taken into care and may never see one another again...
Tusk Tusk was first performed at the Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, Sloane Square, London on 28th March, 2009.
CAMERON WOODHEAD, The Age
CAMERON COLWELL, The Music
DARBY TURNBULL, TheatrePeople