The Dumb Waiter & The Lover

March To June 2012

DATES:

March to June 2017

CAST:

Nicholas Gasson
Rebecca Robson
John O’Connor

CREATIVE TEAM:

WRITER: HAROLD PINTER
DIRECTOR: JONATHAN KEMP
LIGHTING: DUNCAN HANDS

VENUES:

TOURING TO 50 VENUES INCLUDING YORK THEATRE ROYAL, HARROGATE THEATRE, GEORGIAN THEATRE ROYAL, GULBENKIAN THEATRE, DERBY GUILDHALL, THEATRE SEVERN.

The Show

A highly entertaining double-bill of classic, sinister black comedies by the Nobel prize-winning playwright.

In 'The Dumb Waiter', two hit-men are waiting in a basement room to do a job. Strange messages keep appearing via a serving hatch. Who are they from? And why are they waiting? Comedy and menace collide seamlessly in this classic Pinter one-act play from 1960.

In 'The Lover', Richard and Sarah have been married for 10 years. Every morning he commutes into the City to pour over balance sheets and graphs while she shows her lover the hollyhocks. Everything is not quite as it seems as fantasy and reality converge to dizzying effect.

REVIEWS:

‘'European Arts Company provides sheer entertainment but also an excellent opportunity for seeing high-quality live theatre'  
- International Herald Tribune

‘European Arts Company really takes the audience by storm…a surreal performance, witty and hilarious, full of energy talent and creativity.’ - Culture Guide

A CHRISTMAS CAROL

Tue 16 - Sun 21 Dec 2025

Originally directed by the late great Peter Craze (1946-2020)

I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a schoolboy. I am as giddy as a drunken man. A merry Christmas to everybody! A happy New Year to all the world! Hallo here! Whoop! Hallo!

A CHRISTMAS CAROL
by Charles Dickens

European Arts Company returns with a heart-warming evening in the presence of the author himself! Actor John O’Connor delightfully recreates Charles Dickens’s famous performance of his best-loved ghost story.

A Christmas Carol was the first public reading Dickens gave of his own work. He enacted it over 150 times and the effect on the public was phenomenal. ‘The success was most wonderful and prodigious – perfectly overwhelming and astounding altogether!’ he said after the first night. This Christmas, you can experience what it must have been like to be in the audience! Come and enjoy a seasonal treat in the spirit of Christmas past, present and future.

'This almost feels immersive. John O'Connor's performance is delightful. A festive treat.' - The Stage ★★★★

'O’Connor is mesmerising – and as haunting as the ghosts he conjures before our eyes. Beautiful, urgent, important and utterly brilliant.' - Brighton & Hove Independent

'This is a beautifully intimate piece of storytelling with a familial, cosy atmosphere. It embraces its classical origin and has a true heart-warming Christmas spirit.’
- York Press

'A tour de force by John O’Connor starring as the great author himself’
- On Yorkshire

View Tour Dates

A CHRISTMAS CAROL TOUR DATES 2025

DECEMBER

COURTYARD THEATRE, HEREFORD

VOLKSHAUS ZÜRICH

International

SELECTED OVERSEAS TOURING PRODUCTIONS

By: George Bernard Shaw
Director: John O’Connor
Cast: Sadie Tonks, Lloyd Ryan-Thomas, Ellis J Wells, David Lenik, Grace Dunne

A co-production with Il Palchetto Stage. It toured to 75 towns and cities throughout Italy, performing to over 100,000 people.

By: Oscar Wilde
Director: John O’Connor
Cast: Pip Brignall, Haroon Jafarey-Hall, Eva Savage, Ben Darlington, Nick Maxwell

A co-production with Il Palchetto Stage. It toured to 75 towns and cities throughout Italy, performing to over 100,000 people.

By: Samuel Beckett
Director: John O’Connor
Cast: Ben Darlington, Maxwell Tyler, Eva Savage, Ben Higgins

By: Oscar Wilde
Director: John O’Connor
Cast: Edward Elgood, Heather Mason, Ben Bellamy, Charlotte Carter

By: Jane Austen
Director: John O’Connor
Cast: Ben Bellamy, Viola Newbury, Chris Waplington, Heather Mason, Christopher Tester, Rachel Nottingham

Director: Jonathan Kemp
Cast: Charlotte Carter, David Alderman, Alice Brickwood,
William Vasey, Harry Lobek

By: George Orwell
Director: Jonathan Kemp
Cast: Robert Stocks, Rayyah McCaul, Rob Harding, Suzie Edwards, Ryan Jones, Jonathan Sanger

By: John Osborne
Director: Jonathan Kemp
Cast: Matthew Pattimore, Jaymie Addicott, David Alderman, Natasha White

By: Oscar Wilde
Director: Jonathan Kemp
Cast: William Vasey, Holly Walters, Nigel Laird, William Hartley, Nicholas Waters

By: John Buchan
Director: Jonathan Kemp
Cast: Polly Maberly, John O’Connor, Jonathan Waite, Jonny Kemp

Publications

Order Our Published Plays

The Trials of Oscar Wilde

Author: Merlin Holland and John O'Connor
Published by: Samuel French

14th February 1895 was the opening night of The Importance of Being Earnest at the St James Theatre in London and the zenith of Oscar Wilde’s career. Yet within 100 days, Wilde had been through three trials and was sentenced to two year’s hard labour. Where outside of Shakespeare and Sophocles has there been a more shocking fall from grace? Using the actual transcripts of 'the trial of the century’ we can feel what it was like to be in court during the electric exchanges between Wilde and the prosecution.

"A lofty and beguiling Wilde in a smart play that reveals the establishment at its worst"

Buy Now

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Author: Merlin Holland and John O'Connor
Published by: Samuel French

Set in the decadent world of Victorian London, a beautiful young man called Dorian Gray becomes infatuated by the exquisite portrait that Basil Hallward has painted of him. He makes a Faustian pact that he will remain forever young while the picture grows old.

Buy Now

UK Productions

View our list of past productions. Click the image for more info on each production.

ARCHIVE

UK Productions

By: Anton Chekhov
Director: Jonathan Kemp
Cast: Richard Latham, Vivienne Rowdon, John O’Connor

By: Robert Louis Stevenson
Director: Jonathan Kemp
Cast: William Hartley, Jennifer Bryden, Richard Latham, Arthur Pugh

By: Charles Dickens
Director: Jonathan Kemp
Cast: Nigel Nevinson, Richard Latham, Vanessa Morley, Richard Mansfield, Paul Lincoln, Nicholas Waters.

By: Oscar Wilde
Director: Jonathan Kemp
Cast: William Vasey, Mario Vernazza, Jennifer Bryden, Richard Latham, William Hartley.

By: ANTON CHEKHOV
Director: Jonathan Kemp
Cast: Daniel Harcourt, Jennifer Bryden, Richard Latham

By: Harold Pinter
Director: Jonathan Kemp
Cast: John O’Connor, Miriam Dooley, Richard Latham

Address

Hazlitt Theatre
Earl Street,
Maidstone,
Kent ME14 1PL

Telephone

01622 756605

Email

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Get In Touch

We are based at the Hazlitt Theatre in Maidstone and regularly tour all over the UK and Europe. Please get in touch or sign up to our newsletter

Earl Street,
Maidstone,
Kent ME14 1PL

We look forward to hearing from you.

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