People, Places and Things
A play about addiction and recovery in the theatre world.
People, Places and Things is a play by the British playwright Duncan Macmillan. It premiered at the National Theatre in London in 2015. The production was widely praised for its depiction of addiction.
Quick Facts
- Writer
- Duncan Macmillan
- Premiere date
- August 25, 2015
- Premiere place
- Dorfman Theatre
- Original language
- English
- Subject
- Addiction
- Genre
- Drama
Facts from the source article.
Plot
Emma, a talented theatre actress, collapses during rehearsals for a staging of The Seagull by Chekhov due to abuse of alcohol and drugs. The company dismisses her and requires her to detox to return to acting. Unwillingly, she checks into a rehabilitation clinic, initially determined to stay only long enough to be declared clean, but ends up staying several months. After a difficult drug treatment, Emma begins interacting with the clinic community. Some nurses and doctors are ex-patients who serve there to remain under observation, including nurse Foster, who takes a liking to Emma. The doctor treating her, who looks disturbingly similar to Emma's mother, offers a singular self-help method that leads the patient to directly face people, places, and things that trigger addiction. Emma agrees despite skepticism, long rejecting group sessions. Later, she must attend group sessions to be declared clean. Her psychotherapist pushes her to talk about traumas that fostered her addiction; she responds by using her acting skills to tell falsified stories with fragments of truth. This draws hostility from another patient, Mark. The situation worsens when Paul, a former patient expelled for bringing heroin into the clinic, tries to apologize. Paul tells Emma he began taking drugs after his partner died of an overdose. Though other patients oppose readmitting him, Emma emphasizes the group's hypocrisy, causing a fight. The psychotherapist threatens to expel her, which would make it impossible for her to complete the program and return to work.
Production history
The play first appeared in 2015 at the National Theatre’s Dorfman space, directed by Jeremy Herrin. Denise Gough’s performance as the lead earned her the Critics Circle Theatre Award for Best Actress. The following year, the production moved to Wyndham’s Theatre, where Gough also won the Olivier Award for Best Actress. A UK tour began in September 2017 with Lisa Dwyer Hogg playing Emma, and that October the show transferred to St. Ann’s Warehouse in New York with Gough back in the role. In 2024, the play returned to London’s West End for a 14-week run at the Trafalgar Theatre, with Gough again playing Emma.
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