About
Emma’s manager is concerned that she is in breach of contract. In a series of cordial but increasingly tense conversations, the two dissect the differences between “sexual” and “romantic,” negotiate the length of Emma’s interoffice relationship, and face the consequences of shrinking privacy and binding contracts. An ink-black satire from one of Britain’s most acclaimed and provocative writers.
2ndStage is Studio’s playground for emerging artists, offering innovative and thrillingly eclectic programming with shorter rehearsal periods and smaller budgets than our other productions, with a spirit of exuberance and experiment.
Press
Mike Bartlett’s humdinger of a corporate black comedy will chill to the marrow anyone who’s ever had to fill out a W-2.
Enthralling and…brilliantly Pinteresque.
An intellectually challenging and exhilarating hit.
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Read an interview with Contractions stage manager Eric Arnold about some of the more unusual things he’s been called on to do during the rehearsal process.
Read MoreMike Bartlett’s acid satire Contractions is inspired by real-life “Love Clauses,” contracts employees sign dictating the nature and extent of office relationships. Read about Bartlett’s strategies for engaging with political questions without becoming polemical.
Read MoreMike Bartlett wrote Contractions on a bit of a dare as a part of a writers’ collective he formed with playwright/director Duncan Macmillan (author of last season’s Lungs). Every week, the group issued challenges to one another, and at one meeting Duncan suggested Mike write a longer piece; Contractions—receiving its US premiere at Studio under Duncan’s direction—is the result. Read the story from Mike’s point of view here.
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