The Walls (Las Paredes) by Griselda Gambaro, Orange Tree Room, 13 November 1993

This was the third of just three productions Janie and I saw together in The Orange Tree Room (the original Orange Tree above the pub) before that super space closed down. For just a short while, the Orange Tree ran the purpose built theatre and the room.

The other two were:

Of the three, I for some reason I only retained the “programme” (sheet of paper) for The Belle.

This so frustrating, because this production of The Walls was superb – we were spellbound by it. But sadly (unlike Saigon Rose) it doesn’t seem to have been reviewed – or at least not by any resources available on-line.

I have managed, by detective work, to determine that the play we saw is a translation of Las Paredes by Griselda Gambaro.

By Sara Facio (Revista Argentina 1970) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

I have managed to find a review of a more recent production of this play in DC – click here or below:

Las Paredes (The Walls)

As the above review is pretty much all I can find on this play, I have also scraped it to here for just in case.

That review gives you a feel for the play and the production we saw, which tried (with a very limited budget and space) to create that increasingly claustrophobic feeling and did so very well.

I wish I could record who was in it and who directed/designed the production at the Orange Tree Room because it really was excellent in our book.

Perhaps the Orange Tree has an archive into which I can delve at some point.

Janie and I saw this production just before we set off for our first big holiday, to China and Bali. I remember we talked about this play/production a lot and for a long time.

Of all the leaflets to mislay…but perhaps they had run out of leaflets. The Orange Tree Room was on its way out by then; what a pity.

If anyone reading this posting has any information about the production, please let me know through the comments or message system.

Postscript: Newspapers.com allowed me to find the following clipping from The Guardian – appropriately with a typo in the second word of the main text!

The Walls ListingThe Walls Listing Sat, Nov 20, 1993 – 218 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

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