small hours by Wisteria Theatre

3am. An unnamed woman spends the night in a flat while her baby sleeps fitfully in the next room. The woman's husband is away and she cannot sleep. She talks on the phone. She watches TV. She hoovers. She dances to loud music. The neighbours bang on the walls. She is reduced to silence.

About the production:

Lucy Kirkwood is a British playwright and screenwriter whose plays include: The Human Body (Donmar Warehouse, London, 2024); Rapture (promoted as That Is Not Who I Am, Royal Court Theatre, London, 2022); The Welkin (National Theatre, London 2020); Mosquitoes (National Theatre, 2017); The Children (Royal Court Theatre, 2016); Chimerica (Almeida Theatre & West End, 2013; winner of the 2014 Olivier Award for Best New Play, the 2013 Evening Standard Best Play Award, the 2014 Critics’ Circle Best New Play Award, and the Susan Smith Blackburn Award); NSFW (Royal Court, 2012); small hours (co-written with Ed Hime; Hampstead Theatre, 2011); Beauty and the Beast (with Katie Mitchell; National Theatre, 2010); Bloody Wimmin, as part of Women, Power and Politics (Tricycle Theatre, 2010); it felt empty when the heart went at first but it is alright now (Clean Break & Arcola Theatre, 2009; winner of the 2012 John Whiting Award); Hedda (Gate Theatre, London, 2008); and Tinderbox (Bush Theatre, 2008).
She won the inaugural Berwin Lee UK Playwrights Award in 2013.

Ed Hime is a writer from South East London. His plays have been staged at Royal Court and Hampstead Theatre, and his television work includes LOCKWOOD & CO, DOCTOR WHO and SKINS, for which he was nominated for a BAFTA craft award for break-through talent. Radio includes THE INCOMPLETE RECORDED WORKS OF A DEAD BODY, which won the 2007 Prix Italia award for Best Original Radio Drama. Ed is currently developing multiple projects for TV and film.

Jess Gough grew up in Weston Super Mare, she trained at Bristol School of Acting before moving to Manchester to study Acting at Manchester School of Theatre. Jess is an Actor and Director, her recent Directing credits include: 'Invisible Impact' (Oldham Coliseum) 'Pests' (Wisteria Theatre Company) ‘Yen’ (Associate Director, Divided Culture co), ‘This is how I got arrested for smuggling drugs across the border but never actually getting caught with any drugs’ (Slade Productions), ‘A Number’ (Red Brick Theatre) and ‘Vignettes’ (HER Productions).

Wisteria Theatre Company is a grassroots, female-led collective creating change through distortion. We shine a provocative, immersive light on urgent contemporary issues—viewed through a subtly warped lens that sits just outside our shared reality.
At the heart of our work is a deep commitment to actor safety and collaboration, fostering environments where bold exploration is balanced with care. Much like the wisteria plant we’re named after, we believe in the power of duality: beauty and danger, resilience and vulnerability, individuality and community. Our work invites audiences to question, reflect, and resist, growing new perspectives from the cracks in the familiar. Where others might wilt, we return stronger—twisting tradition into something wild, vivid, and defiantly alive.

CONTENT WARNING: The play contains loud noises and themes of post partum depression.

5:100 is made possible thanks to the Clothworkers Foundation and Salford CVS.

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Host or Publisher Divided Culture Co.