A funny, touching and at times savage portrait of a family full of longing that’s losing its grip – The Last of the Haussmans examines the fate of the revolutionary generation.
Anarchic, feisty but growing old, high-society drop-out Judy Haussman remains in spirit with the ashrams of the 1960s, while holding court in her dilapidated art deco house on the Devon coast.
After an operation, she’s joined by her wayward offspring, her sharp-eyed granddaughter, a local doctor and a troubled teenager who makes use of the family’s crumbling swimming pool. Over a few sweltering months they alternately cling to and flee a chaotic world of all-day drinking, infatuations, long-held resentments, free love and failure.
Stephen Beresford’s play The Last of the Haussmans was first staged at the National Theatre, London, in 2012, in a production starring Julie Walters and Rory Kinnear.
‘A knockout – entertaining, sad and outrageous. [Stephen Beresford] is going to be a major name’
— Observer
‘Beresford’s drama is frequently a hoot… you can’t not enjoy’
— Metro
‘Beresford’s debut is thoughtful and fresh, delighting in the savagery of a dysfunctional family… deliciously comical… drips with smart lines’
— Evening Standard
‘A taut, touching and genuinely amusing portrait of generations of family damage… gloriously textured.. utterly authentic… hilarious and haunting’
— The Stage
