The Virtuous Burglar

The life of a burglar is not an easy one at the best of times, and especially not when the man you’re trying to burgle turns up half way through the job. And doubly especially - not when that man is having an affair, your wife is calling, and you find yourself hiding in a clock.

As the night goes from bad to worse for the eponymous burglar and his unsuspecting host, chaos descends into hilarity. Will anyone make it out of the house without going insane?

A renowned socialist, Fo’s work is known for its comedy-led dissection of society, its interrogation of the traditional jobs and family roles, and his upset with the political climates of both his home country and the wider world in the second half of the 20th century.

Our production of Fo’s early farce is styled with inspiration from other socialist-leaning associations such as the postmodern Memphis Group of designers, based in Milan in the 1980s.

Tenjō Sajiki, an underground theatre and arts group based in Japan in the 1970s, performed one of the first plays staged at Riverside: Directions to Servants in 1978. Flywheel builds on their approach to experimentalism and cross-medium artistic collaboration, bringing multi-disciplinary creatives into the rehearsal room and performance spaces.