Annie Baker's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama about three cinema attendants - 'Wondrous, devastating, hilarious, and infinitely touching. A play to be treasured' New York Times.
In a run-down movie theatre in central Massachusetts, three underpaid employees mop the floors and attend to one of the last 35-millimetre film projectors in the state. Their tiny battles and not-so-tiny heartbreaks play out in the empty aisles, becoming more gripping than the lacklustre, second-run movies on screen.
With keen insight and a finely tuned ear for comedy, The Flick is a hilarious and heart-rending cry for authenticity in a fast-changing world.
The Flick arrived at the National Theatre, London, in 2016, direct from New York, where it won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It went on to win Best New Play at the 2016 Critics' Circle Awards.
'Annie Baker's play is not just good. It is not just new. It's a new sort of good'
— Observer
'Astonishing... The beauty of Baker's play lies in its portrait of three quietly desperate people... This is like no other play in London. It moves at its own unhurried pace and magically exposes the souls of lonely people in danger of being left behind in our new, digitised age'
— Guardian
'A portrait of a generation struggling through life without moorings, that also beautifully and often hilariously observes the strange, fragile nature of work friendships, enforced intimacy with virtual strangers'
— Time Out
'An understated epic of dreams, disappointment and tenacity by America's greatest living dramatist'
— The Stage
'What makes The Flick so original and captivating is the way form really does match content… [conjures] a stillness that is almost like a painting, rewarding patience, forcing you to pay attention. It's a mighty achievement'
— WhatsOnStage
'Wondrous, devastating, hilarious, and infinitely touching. A play to be treasured'
— New York Times
'The Flick offers that beautiful, exquisitely alive feeling you get during the best moments of theatre – that life is too wonderful to be believed'
— New Yorker
Best New Play, Critics' Circle Awards
Pulitzer Prize for Drama
Susan Smith Blackburn Prize
About the Author :
Annie Baker is a leading American playwright whose plays include: Infinite Life (Linda Gross Theater, New York, and National Theatre, London, 2023); The Antipodes (Signature Theatre, New York, 2017; National Theatre, London, 2019); John (Off-Broadway, 2015; National Theatre, London, 2018); The Flick (Off-Broadway, 2013; National Theatre, London, 2013; Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Susan Smith Blackburn Award, Obie Award for Playwriting), Circle Mirror Transformation (Obie Award for Best New American Play, Drama Desk nomination for Best New American Play), The Aliens (Obie Award for Best New American Play), Body Awareness (Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominations for Best Play/Emerging Playwright), and an adaptation of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya (Drama Desk nomination for Best Revival).
Her plays have been produced at over 150 theatres throughout the U.S., and have been produced internationally in over a dozen countries. Other recent honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship, American Academy of Arts and Letters Award, Hull-Warriner Award, Steinberg Award, and the Cullman Fellowship at the New York Public Library.
Review :
'Annie Baker's play is not just good. It is not just new. It's a new sort of good'
'Astonishing... The beauty of Baker's play lies in its portrait of three quietly desperate people... This is like no other play in London. It moves at its own unhurried pace and magically exposes the souls of lonely people in danger of being left behind in our new, digitised age'
'A portrait of a generation struggling through life without moorings, that also beautifully and often hilariously observes the strange, fragile nature of work friendships, enforced intimacy with virtual strangers'
'An understated epic of dreams, disappointment and tenacity by America's greatest living dramatist'
'What makes The Flick so original and captivating is the way form really does match content… [conjures] a stillness that is almost like a painting, rewarding patience, forcing you to pay attention. It's a mighty achievement'
'Wondrous, devastating, hilarious, and infinitely touching. A play to be treasured'
'The Flick offers that beautiful, exquisitely alive feeling you get during the best moments of theatre – that life is too wonderful to be believed'
