Ensemble 52 follow 24/7 with Something Hidden

Following the enormous success of their Manchester Evening News Award-winning production As We Forgive Them Ensemble 52 return to Studio Salford with their new production Something Hidden by David Pattison.

This darkly humorous and sometimes irreverent exploration of the life of one of the 20th Century’s finest poets shines a speculative light into the darker corners of Poet Phillip Larkin’s life. Did his simultaneous affairs with three women make him a lothario – or merely indecisive? And was his ingrained dislike of ‘abroad’ anything to do with his father’s alleged admiration of the Third Reich?

“It’s very much an imagining of Larkin’s private life” says director Andrew Pearson “precisely because he deliberately shunned the limelight – saying he didn’t want to be ‘Mr Poetry’. When his letters were published after his death the revelations of multiple affairs, his use of pornography, his right wing views all came as a complete surprise. Yet his intimacy with Monica Jones lasted 40 years – a long time for a supposed misogynist to be involved with the same woman! Then this intelligent, beautiful and successful woman was so devastated by his death she became a recluse.  We wanted to explore the man behind these enigmas and the experiences that might have shaped him”.

Larkin will be played by Richard Vergette, last seen in As We Forgive Them as Congressman Daniels. He will be joined by Rachel Dale as Larkin’s longest paramour Monica Jones.

Something Hidden runs at Studio Salford from 29th Sept -2 October and tickst are priced £7 / £5 conc. For more information, please visit the Studio’s website.