Through the Leaves

Martha runs a butcher’s shop; Otto is an inarticulate factory worker. Each of them is alone in a world which seems to have overlooked them. This play is a heartfelt expression for the moments of ‘deep longing’ which remain unfulfilled in all of us.

The claustrophobic world of Martha’s shop and sitting room often feels too small to contain the brutality of Otto’s language and actions; too small to contain the desperation of Martha’s desire; too small to contain the debris of their continuously destructive relationship.

Franz Xaver Kroetz helped to define the German realist movement beginning in the 1970’s. A failure at university, he turned for his subject matter away from the ‘classics’ to the lower classes in German society, writing more than 30 plays for stage, television and radio.

The Mercury is delighted to be working once again with Shakespeare & Company. Tina Packer, Director of Coriolanus in 2007, takes to the stage as Martha with Nigel Gore as Otto, last seen at the Mercury as Volumnia in Coriolanus.

The date and time tab shows the date of the first performance of this show only.