A Handbag

M4 F2. A room in an institution. Acclaimed novelist, screenwriter and playwright Anthony Horowitz was commissioned to write a play as part of the National Theatre’s “New Connections” programme for young people and the result is a short play which is both funny and poignant for a cast of six. A group of young people are rehearsing ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ but, as they attempt to perform a play which is alien to them, it becomes apparent that their surroundings are not normal. Gradually, as tensions mount, squabbles ensue and each young person’s story starts to emerge, the location is found to be an institution – reinforced by the final grim, chilling echoes of doors slamming and being locked.