‘My parents are here. In the walls and the floorboards and the bricks of this house. This is not only your street with only your stories.’
On a residential street in South East London, reclusive siblings Peppy and Daniel live in a house stuffed full of everything they have ever owned. With their eccentric appearance and their rampant garden hedge, they’re not like others on their road.
When young Ben from next door comes visiting, looking for friendship, what happens next challenges everyone’s idea of neighbourliness.
Deborah Bruce’s play The House They Grew Up In is a tender, dark and funny look at co-dependency, anxiety, and living alongside those who are different from us.
The play was first performed at Chichester Festival Theatre in July 2017 in a co-production with Headlong.
‘A subtle and surprising play that turns from the bleakest of comedies into a tender story of hope… powered by the kind of dialogue you could quote for weeks’
— The Stage
‘An intriguing, slow-burn piece… [has a] gentle, thoughtful humanity’
— Evening Standard
‘Powerful… has an extraordinary emotional impact’
— Telegraph
‘Upbeat but avoids sentimentality… a sympathetic look at modern urban hermitry and the pitfalls of excessive co-dependency’
— Financial Times
‘A humane plea for our tolerance of other people’s eccentricities’
— Guardian
