RELATIVE MOTION to Make World Premiere at Southwark Playhouse Borough
Stephanie Greenwood's coercive control thriller will be directed by Wiebke Green at The Little auditorium.
Relative Motion, a new play by British-South African writer Stephanie Greenwood, will make its world premiere at Southwark Playhouse Borough in The Little auditorium from 11 November to 5 December. Blending romantic comedy, psychological thriller and black comedy, the production explores the subtle shifts through which manipulation can take root and reshape a relationship.
What begins as a chance encounter on a London commuter train blossoms into an unexpected romance between physics student Sam and aspiring novelist Paul. As their relationship gathers momentum, however, subtle compromises and shifting power dynamics begin to emerge, revealing the gradual development of coercive control.
Directed by award-winning British-German director Wiebke Green, the play examines the stories we tell ourselves about love, memory and perspective, asking how easy it is to lose sight of the moment a relationship changes.
Woven through the play are Isaac Newton's theories of motion, drawing unexpected parallels between the momentum, collisions, actions and reactions that shape the world around us and those that shape human relationships. As scientific certainty gives way to emotional complexity, physics becomes an unexpected lens through which to explore love, manipulation and perspective.
“Relative Motion began as a short story I wrote on a train while I was in the middle of a turbulent relationship. Looking out the window, I was struck by the idea of relative motion: I was still relative to those on the train with me, yet relative to the houses outside we were travelling by at speed. At that moment, my relationship felt like that. Using Newton's theories of motion became the framework for this story and a nod to the original story I had written in my notebook that morning.
The most frightening thing about coercive control is that it slowly erodes your confidence, judgment, and sense of self without you realising. I realised how common these stories are and, crucially, how little we talk about them. More than anything, I want the audiences to start out rooting for this couple. I want them to fall in love with Sam and Paul before they begin to question it, because that's what makes it difficult to recognise the warning signs in our own lives”. Writer Stephanie Greenwood
Director Wiebke Green has previously directed award-winning productions including a New York Times Critic's Pick, an Off West End Solo Performance winner, an Off West End Creation winner and an Off West End OnComm winner, as well as receiving an Off West End nomination for Best Production. She trained at the Orange Tree Theatre and as intern director to Katie Mitchell.
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