Elephant & Castle

Do you tell the truth when you talk in your sleep? Does your sleep talk even make sense? And could it just be that you analyse your relationships in a way that’s more honest than you do when you’re awake? This is the dangerous premise behind Elephant and Castle, a new, experimental show that springs from two years of recorded sleep talk.

It’s called Elephant and Castle because one of the first things the author said to his partner Lillian in his sleep was, “I want to get in a cupboard and take you to Elephant and Castle.” From there, it becomes tender, funny, uncomfortable and dark too, as the mutterings never quite take the form of honest coherence. But does the incoherence conceal the truth? Is there something struggling to be said? Something perhaps that is painful and potentially disastrous for this relationship?