Frustrated playwright Amédée is still trying to finish the play he started writing fifteen years ago. Meanwhile, his wife Madeleine, works hard in telecommunications to keep them in their dilapidated apartment. But the couple are keeping a secret. A big secret that seems to be getting bigger by the day. A terrifying secret that is now threatening to take over their lives. A secret that has grown into an unwelcome entity they can no longer hide. Now they urgently need a plan of how to get rid of it.

Director Roxana Silbert says: “I’m thrilled to be giving life to Ionesco’s little known but brilliant play, Amédée. Josie Lawrence and Trevor Fox capture the despair and absurdity of Ionesco’s loveable, frustrating characters with an endless supply of wit, warmth and depth.

“The play is about the skeleton in the closet, it’s about the things that you don’t talk about but really should confront, the things that stop you living, loving, creating. Written just after the Second World War, it captures the struggle of two ordinary people trying to survive personal chaos surrounded by political upheaval, contained by a military presence, and where suspicion of your neighbours is rife. In 2017, absurdism seems to make a great more sense than real life, and Sean’s adaptation hones in on the comedy and pain of trying to make sense of a senseless world.”

Old Hill-born Josie Lawrence returns to Birmingham Repertory Theatre to play Madeleine following her previous leading roles in The REP’s productions of The Cherry Orchard, Hapgood and Frozen. Josie’s other theatre credits include The Taming Of The Shrew (RSC), for which she was awarded the Dame Peggy Ashcroft Award for Best Actress, The King and I (London Palladium) and Picasso’s Women (National Theatre). Josie is also well known for her skill at comedy improvisation having been a member of the Comedy Store Players for nearly 20 years and many appearances in the BAFTA award-winning Whose Line Is It Anyway?