Trestle (NHB Modern Plays)

Harry feels like life is beginning to tick down, his autumn years spent quietly caring for the community he loves. Denise thinks life begins in retirement and she's dancing like she's still at high school. When their paths cross at the village hall, their understanding of the time they have left changes irrevocably. What do community, growing old, and falling in love really mean? And who gets to decide anyway? Stewart Pringle's play Trestle tenderly but truthfully explores love and ageing, asking how we choose to live in the face of soaring life expectancies. It won the 2017 Papatango New Writing Prize and premiered at Southwark Playhouse, London, in November 2017. 'A tender and observant piece that's at once a tribute to the idea of community and a sensitive vision of the perils of isolation... a touching portrait of mature affection, quietly truthful about its rewards and difficulties' - Evening Standard 'Brimming with gentle humour and bursting with heart... the restraint and social realism of Pringle's writing lifts it above saccharine glibness, towards something far more elegiac and far richer dramatically... a gently funny and genuinely adorable not-quite love story' - The Stage 'Wittily and cleverly written... it is closely and lovingly observed, creating a sense of these people and their lives' - Whatsonstage.com 'Offers a sympathetic view of a pair of senior citizens and suggests that age offers no immunity to passion... a gift to older actors' - Guardian

Stewart Pringle is Associate Dramaturg at the Bush Theatre, London. Prior to that he was Artistic Director of the Old Red Lion Theatre in Islington, for which he received the 2016 Off West End Award for Best Artistic Director. In 2011 he co-founded the London Horror Festival. Working as a theatre critic for several years, his writing has been published in The Stage, Time Out, New Scientist and Exeunt Magazine. As a playwright, his work includes Trestle (Southwark Playhouse, 2017; winner of the 2017 Papatango New Writing Prize), The Ghost Hunter and You Look Tasty!.