Written by Caryl Churchill
Directed and Produced by Nicholas Barton-Wines
July 2011

As Brian and Alice wait for their daughter’s safe return from Australia, self-doubt turns to self-destruction. Their fears become reality and they grapple for control whilst desperately undoing and unspeaking their darkest thoughts and dreams: redrafting their lives over and over again.

Famed for her constant reinvention of theatrical forms, Caryl Churchill explores the dissatisfaction in us all and our never-ending battle to control expectations as her characters begin assault on each other and themselves.

This project was directed, designed, and produced by myself, presented at the Mercury Theatre. It featured a cast of 16 actors who mostly took on multiple roles. In keeping with the fractured and constantly-redefining narrative of Heart’s Desire, which features a series of bizarre and worrisome events erupting into the room and being swept under the carpet, I had one of the interruptions be the cast of This is a Chair enter to perform their play in the family kitchen of the characters in Heart’s Desire. This was quickly swept away after it was completed and never referenced by the characters again.

Photos by Stephanie Humphries