Charles Edwards @CEdwardsActor Olivia Williams Waste trailer National Theatre London

Waste

Backstage at a hung parliament, visionary Independent Henry Trebell is co-opted by the Tories to push through a controversial Bill. Pursuing his cause with missionary zeal, he’s barely distracted by his brief affair with a married woman until she suffers a lethal backstreet abortion. Threatened by public scandal, the Establishment closes ranks and coolly seals the fate of an idealistic man.
Famously banned by the censors when it was first written, Harley Granville Barker’s controversial masterpiece gathers a large ensemble to expose a cut-throat, cynical world of sex, sleaze and suicide amongst the political elite of 1920s England.
Charles Edwards (This House, Strange Interlude) plays Henry Trebell.
Olivia Williams (Love's Labour's Lost, Happy Now?) plays Amy O'Connell.

★★★★
'A luminous revival. Compulsory viewing.'
Independent
★★★★
'Truly memorable. A treat.'
Daily Express
★★★★
'Roger Michell directs his top-drawer cast with unerring precision.'
Sunday Times
★★★★
'Engrossing. Charles Edwards has a genial stage presence.'
Daily Mail
★★★★
'Insightful.'
Mail on Sunday
'Deeply affecting. An elegant revival.'
Evening Standard
'Olivia Williams steals the show.'
Telegraph