Anthony Neilson’s Stitching

In the ’90s,  Scottish playwright Anthony Neilson wrote his bewitching tale of a couple’s twisted, brutal and passionate relationsihp in Stitching.  Its opening at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, on August 2002 was welcomed with acclaims of shock and amazement.  

Starring Meital Dohan, from Weeds, and John Ventimiglia, from The Sopranos, the play’s New York success takes it to Los Angeles.  

I haven’t seen it yet, so I’ll let Paul Boston from LA Splash Magazie explain the plot.

The play opens with Abby and Stu discussing Abby’s unwanted pregnancy. Their vicious and childlike fighting is initially comical, using language so crass that it could make a group of sailors look like church boys, then through the course of several different non-chronological scenes, the audience discovers just how twisted Abby and Stu’s love relationship is. Fighting about nearly everything, the couple eventually attempts a non-committal sex game in which Abby pretends to be a prostitute for Stu, using the monetary gain to help pay her way through college. This game, however, becomes increasingly violent, climaxing in a hair pulling, hand biting, and black and blue wrestling match/sex scene. Only through the increasing aggression and violence in their game is the couple able to realize that they are completely unable to put their actual love for each other behind them.

—“StitchingTheater Review – Dirty, Gritty Human Love”

I’ll be picking up the play and can’t wait to watch it on stage!

Tags: anthony, john ventimiglia, meital dohan, neilson, play, playwright, stitching, theatre