WITHOUT CONSENT by David Robson to Premiere at Philly Fringe Festival
Cathy Simpson and Lorraine Barrett star in the two-hander directed by Gene Terruso.
Inferno Productions will present the premiere of Without Consent, a new play by David Robson, as part of the 2026 Philadelphia Fringe Festival. Performances begin Tuesday, September 8 and run through Friday, September 11 at the Calvary Center for Culture & Community.
When Lisa, a hospice care nurse, arrives at the elegant Main Line study of Judith Westbrook for what appears to be a routine job interview, neither woman is entirely who she seems. Judith's husband-a disgraced media mogul whose decades of predatory behavior have destroyed countless lives-is dying. As the interview unfolds, both women conceal their true motives, and what begins as a cat-and-mouse game soon builds to shocking twists neither woman sees coming.
Without Consent began with a question, says playwright David Robson. 'How do we compartmentalize the different aspects of our lives so we're able to function in the world? I'm fascinated by the human capacity for looking the other way, especially in times of strain or crisis. I also love a good psychological drama where the stakes rise and rise and the twists keep coming.'
According to actor Lorraine Barrett, who plays Lisa, 'It's the kind of play where you notice something new every time since there are so many layers to the story and the characters.'
Developed at Theatre Exile, InterAct Theatre Company, Penguin Rep Theatre, and Delaware Theatre Company, Without Consent also features Barrymore winner Cathy Simpson. 'David mentioned that he had written the play with me in mind,' says Simpson. 'The writing so intrigued me that I was simply compelled to find a way to make [a production] happen.'
Called 'a masterful piece of theatre' by British theatre critic Paul Smith and 'timely and incisive' by playwright and InterAct Theatre Company artistic director Seth Rozin, Without Consent was recently published in a Polish translation by Kamila Jansen in Pole, a Warsaw literary magazine whose pages have featured the work of Arthur Rimbaud, Antonin Artaud, and Rainer Maria Rilke.
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