The Man With the Flower in His Mouth

An all-night café, just gone midnight. A traveller waits peacefully for her morning train. A man appears. The man with the flower in his mouth – a clown, a mad-man, a philosopher – strikes up a conversation, and turns her world upside down.

This production was first staged in New Cross in Autumn 2010, in association with the Greenwich Theatre. It then touring cafés throughout the UK in April/May 2011 in association with Jacksons Lane, Oxford Playhouse & Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds.

CAST & CREATIVES

CAST

The Man | Samuel Collings
The Traveller | Liana Weafer
The Boy | Ian Migation

The Waitress | Jessica Guise (Autumn 2010 only)

GALLERY

REVIEWS

‘Metta Theatre is a company I’ve admired for a few years now, and this delightful production is another reminder that this is a company to watch. Metta has a strong background in puppetry and circus skills, and such training is apparent in the charismatic, mime-like physicality of Samuel Collings as The Man. Collings is captivating, dangerously spontaneous, and infectious with energy. Beside him, Liana Weafer’s performance is a remarkable combination of world-weariness and childlike fascination…Weafer and Collings breathe life into every snatch of text, thanks in part to the rich yet subtle symbolic vocabulary of gesture created under Burton-Morgan’s direction.’ - Kate Maltby in The Spectator

‘Samuel Collings possesses the intensity and charisma to grasp the audience from his first moments, and with the aid of Burton-Morgan’s appropriately detailed direction, he gives a performance in which his slightest movement is filled with interest and import.The choice of venue is inspired…with stunning performances and a setting which blends convincing immersion with a disjunctive theatricality, it’s an enthralling hour in New Cross.’ - Stewart Pringle in Whats On Stage

‘an intriguing hour of drama…Samuel Collings’ performance as The Man is engaging, offering moments of sincerity and seriousness with a healthy dose of physical humour…Beautifully poetic and definitely eccentric, this is a production which is both surreal and realistic.’ - Amy Yorston in British Theatre Guide

‘Samuel Collings is initially engaging as the mysterious Man and Liana Weafer gives a suitably understated performance as the traveller…Collings’ simple clowning is charming from the outset…’ - Paul Vale in The Stage

‘The setting is inspired, blending theatre with everyday New Cross life in a disconcerting mix. Samuel Collings effectively combines pent-up passion and physical humour as The Man, while Liana Weafer holds it all in as the hide-bound Traveller. Poppy Burton-Morgan directs and adapts, switching the male stranger in the original for a woman. Her version sensibly avoids completely modernisation, and creates a strong sense of unreality which lingers after the characters leave the café. This searching play is a fine way to spend an hour, and the imaginative staging shows how much the London fringe has to gain from leaving the theatre bubble and invading new spaces.’ - Tom Bolton in The Londonist

‘As The Man, Collings is endearingly awkward and slyly sweet. In his ill-fitting velvet jacket and pockets full 0f bric-a-brac, he’s a cross between a Beckettian tramp and an elegant clown. The power of his imaginative detail is transfixing and bewildering.Weafer is both understated and intense, and adeptly inhabits this hard-to-place role. The London Particular is the perfect setting for this ephemeral play, and grants us fleeting access to this other, yet oddly recognisable world.’ - Helena Rampley in The London Theatre Project

‘quietly exhilarating. Samuel Collings does a terrific job of commanding the space for the duration of the production…Collings at certain moments attains that perfect equilibrium of simplicity and thrilling intensity that is at the very essence of Pirandello’s art….Weafer delicately combines the restrained awkwardness of many a London commuter with a credible portrayal of a captivated listener to secure a quiet but solid presence…The intimate proximity to the action, worked to create a wonderfully immersive experience…through talented performances and experienced directing, it skilfully, although somewhat cautiously, manages to strike a sophisticated balance between Pirandello’s appreciation of the commonplace and simple with the genius of his emotive intensity – a wonderful achievement.’ - Carmen Nasr for Extra Extra