The Suitcase opens Liverpool Playhouse new season

Liverpool Playhouse’s autumn season gets off to an international start this week with the arrival of Market Theatre Johannesburg’s The Suitcase.

The South African theatre company, which has been staging cutting-edge productions for four decades, is finishing its current North of England tour here in the city.

Acclaimed playwright Es’kia Mphahlele’s The Suitcase is set in 1950s South Africa, where a young newly married couple leave their rural village and disapproving family for Durban, with the goal of returning home rich and free.

Read more about the new Everyman and Playhouse season

But alienated in the city, unemployed and poor, Timi starts to lose his moral compass. Desperate to provide for his pregnant wife, he steals a suitcase left on a bus not knowing what might be inside - an act which brings frightening consequences, dramatic twists and unexpected turns.

The production, the first time in five years Market Theatre Johannesburg has performed in the UK, features live music from Grammy Award-winning South African composer Hugh Masekela.

The Suitcase comes to Liverpool Playhouse from October 4-7. Tickets from the website HERE.