The Confessions

An intimate portrait of a life

Australia 1943 to London 2021, and everything in between.

Alice is learning to be herself against the times. But how do the times shape who we are?

Playing out over a tumultuous eight decades, Alice’s complex relationships become a common thread in her personal journey, in this intimate portrait of a life.

Alexander Zeldin (LOVE, Faith, Hope and Charity) returns to the National Theatre with this international collaboration. Following hours of interviews he brings a real life to stage, featuring music composed by Yannis Philippakis.

The Confessions premiered in Vienna before touring to Athens, Barcelona and Paris as well as a run at the Avignon Festival 2023. This edition was published to coincide with the run at London’s National Theatre in October 2023.

Author Biography

Alexander Zeldin is a writer and director for theatre and film. Alexander made work in Russia, South Korea and the Middle East as well as at the Naples Festival, before, between 2011-2014, developing a number of his own works as a teacher at East 15 Acting School. At this time, he also worked as an assistant director to Peter Brook and Marie-Helene Estienne.

His critically acclaimed play, Beyond Caring, which told the story of several temporary workers meeting on a night shift in a meat factory, had its World Premiere at the Yard Theatre in Hackney in 2014, before transferring to the Temporary Theatre at the National Theatre in 2015. In 2015 Alexander was the recipient of the Quercus Trust Award and was appointed as Associate Director at Birmingham Repertory Theatre. Beyond Caring toured the UK and a new US production, re-developed for the US by Alexander and produced by Lookingglass Theater in conjunction with David Schwimmer’s company Dark Harbour Stories, opened in Chicago in April 2017.