The play was written by Hampton at 18 years of age whilst at university, by the age of 20 he was the youngest playwright in the modern era to have a production in the West End after it's debut at the Royal Court before transferring to the Comedy Theatre. Critics loved the play saying hailing the play as the most powerful and corrosive to grace any British stage since the war: "I do not care whether Mr Hampton is 18 or 80," gushed the Times, "There are things in his work that would be magnificently moving, beautifully understanding, revealing and compassionate for any age."
Set in 1965, When Did You Last See My Mother? follows the lonely, broke and lovelorn Ian who is about to give up on a London where everyone apart from him is having fun when he receives a visit from his carefree flatmate’s mother. Charismatic and reckless, she pulls the boys into calamitous territory.
The role of Ian will be played by Harry Melling who is best known for playing Harry Potter's cousin, Dudley on screen in the Harry Potter series. In 2009 he made his stage debut as "Swiss Cheese" in a revival of Mother Courage and her Children at the National Theatre, alongside Fiona Shaw who played his mother Petunia Dursley in the Harry Potter films and has followed that up with a role in Women Beware Women also at the National and the The School for Scandal at the Barbican Theatre this year.
The production will be directed by Blanche McIntyre.
Book When Did You Last See My Mother? tickets online now.
[posted by Louise, 03/08/2011]