Green Room presents Dealing with Clair

Dealing with Clair

A satirical examination of the property boom in Britain, this Martin Crimp play combines burgeoning greed with the real life disappearance of a young estate agent. When Dealing with Clair premiered in 1988 it certainly helped to establish Martin Crimp's rising reputation as a playwright, lauded as the heir apparent to such masters as Pinter and Mamet.

It's a play with many layers. Giving an insight into the property price explosion of the 1980's in the time of Margaret Thatcher and Nigel Lawson, the action centres on a pretty twenty-something estate agent, Clair (Alison Fleming) who finds herself being the meat in the sandwich when her house vendors, Liz (Carole Mullineux) and Mike (David Hyde) an upwardly mobile couple trying to sell their house for an exorbitant sum, engage her services to secure a sale from a mysterious prospective buyer.

In 1986 estate agent Suzy Lamplugh disappeared after meeting a prospective purchaser at one of her properties. At the time it was headline news for many weeks and ultimately led to widespread changes in working practices. Despite intensive police investigations, she has not been found and her disappearance has never been satisfactorily resolved. It's a case that has never been forgotten and a new but unsuccessful search was carried out by the police as recently as 2010.

Martin Crimp's play gives us the opportunity to observe the complex entwining of the characters' commercial and sexual greed and fears and ends with the deliverance of a bold conclusion. Clair is an estate agent who deals with the vendors and the disquieting prospective buyer, James (Ian Cole) but how has Clair been dealt with.....?

Directed by Graham Boswell, Dealing with Clair runs at the Wilmslow Green Room from Saturday 25 January - Saturday 1 February 2014. Tickets are available online via the WGR website www.wgrsoc.org.uk or via the box office on 01625 540933, which is also open on the Saturday mornings leading up to the play from 1030am to midday.

Member post by Hilary Pinnock.

Photo: Standing from left to right: Ian Cole (James), Alison Fleming (Clair), Carole Mullineux (Liz) and David Hyde (Mike) and sitting : Kitty O'Connor (Anna the au pair).

Tags:
Theatre, Wilmslow Green Room
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement