IMPORTANT CASTING INFORMATION:

Owing to illness, we regret to announce that Kathryn Prescott made the difficult decision to pull out of The Love Girl and the Innocent at Southwark Playhouse. We are sad that Kathryn won’t be playing the role of Lyuba and wish her all the best. Kathryn’s part will now be played by Rebecca Oldfield, who previously led the cast of Faith, Hope and Charity at Southwark Playhouse (2011). Rebecca is a terrific actress who we’re extremely grateful to be welcoming to the team. Previously she has worked with director Matthew Dunster on A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre). If you have booked tickets for the show and have any queries please contact the box office on 020 7407 0234 (Mon-Fr – 10.30am – 6.30pm)

‘Matthew Dunster’s stark, searing revival… brings it to life with a teeming, horrible immediacy’ ★★★★ The Independent

‘Dunster’s Love Girl burns like a spark in darkness. Catch it before it goes out.’ ★★★★ The Arts Desk

‘Matthew Dunster is to be congratulated for conceiving a wonderful evening’s theatre and then delivering a production that defies all expectation.’ British Theatre Guide

‘Grasps and holds the attention throughout its 2½-hour duration.’ British Theatre Guide

‘Fierce commitment of the ensemble’ Evening Standard

The first London production in over 30 years, this brand new version of The Love Girl & the Innocent is a gripping love story set against the struggles of sex, power and survival.

Russia. 1945. Nemov is serving a 10 year sentence.

Conscripted as chief of his work group, Nemov is confronted with the prison system’s hypocrisy and his loyalties are pushed to the limits.

How long can he stand up to the brutality and injustice of the camp and a regime that thrives on power, corruption, and sexual amorality?

When Nemov meets Lyuba, one of the women prisoners – a “love girl”, he is tempted further, and forced to betray his own moral integrity.

Playwright Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was a Russian writer who was imprisoned for his criticism of the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, and later exposed Stalin’s prison system in his novels and spent 20 years in exile. In 1970, he was awarded the Novel Prize for Literature. He is best known for the novels The Gulag Archipelago, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, The First Circle, Cancer Ward and The Red Wheel. Other works include A Storm in the Mountains, An Incident at Krechetovka Station, Matryona’s Place, For The Good of the Cause, The First Circle, Prussian Nights and Two Hundred Years Together. He passed away in 2008 at the age of 89.

Director Matthew Dunster returns to Southwark Playhouse after directing the critically acclaimed You Can Still Make A Killing in 2012. Recent credits include The Sacred Flame (English Touring Theatre), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Open Air Theatre, Regent’s Park), Mogadishu (Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith and Royal Exchange- nominated for Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement In An Affiliate Theatre), The Maddening Rain (Soho Theatre), Love the Sinner (National Theatre), The Fahrenheit Twins (Barbican), Dr Faustus, Troilus and Cressida, The Frontline (Shakespeare’s Globe), Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Macbeth, 1984 (Royal Exchange Theatre), You Can See The Hills, Love and Money (Royal Exchange Theatre and Young Vic – nominated for Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement In An Affiliate Theatre), Testing the Echo (Out of Joint), Some Voices, The Member of the Wedding (Young Vic), Cruising (Bush Theatre), Project B, Project D: I’m Mediocre, The Work, Port Authority (Liverpool Everyman). As well as being a writer and actor, Matthew was also a founding member of both Quarantine and The Work theatre companies. He was an Associate Director of the Young Vic for four years and is currently an Associate Artist.