Stumped

“For God's sake, let us sit upon the green and tell sad stories of the fall of batsmen…”

A game of cricket. Two of the greatest playwrights.  And maybe even time for some tea.

Before Samuel Beckett became the playwright universally known for Waiting for Godot, he was a cricketer. He is still the only Nobel prize-winner to feature in the pages of Wisden as a first-class player. His friend and fellow Nobel prize-winner, Harold Pinter, whose best known works include The Birthday Party and Betrayal,described cricket as ‘the greatest thing that God created on earth’.

Stumped is a brilliantly witty new play by Shomit Dutta which explores what the friendship between these two playwrights may have looked like. Starring Stephen Tompkinson as Samuel Beckett (Brassed Off, Drop the Dead Donkey, DCI Banks, Wild at Heart) and Andrew Lancel (The Bill, Coronation Street) as Harold Pinter.

Shomit Dutta is a writer, translator and teacher of Latin and Greek who also reviews books on cricket and the classics. He has been a member of Harold Pinter’s cricket team Gaieties CC for over twenty years and was captain during Pinter’s final years.

Guy Unsworth directs. His credits include The System and Being Mr Wickham. He was also Associate Director on Much Ado About Nothing and Love’s Labour’s Lost (RSC and West End); Spamalot (West End & UK Tour).

“A real treat... see it if you can" The Spectator

“Perfect pitch for lovers of drama and cricket" The Guardian, Mark Lawson

“A delightful play” British Theatre Guide