Matryoshka by Tomas Hirst at Landor from 23 Feb 2010

Matryoshka, by Tomas Hirst, at the Landor Theatre, a fringe venue in Clapham south London, from 23 Feb to 13 March 2010

Directed by Oliver Lyttelton, the cast includes Tara Hart , John Sandeman , Alex Walker, Nanou Harry, Ruth Evans, Stefan Doolan, Jean Apps..

'Matryoshka' aims to illustrate the conflicting humanity and brutality at the heart of a seemingly cold and aloof legal system, and its effects on those within it.

Locked in an increasingly acrimonious divorce battle, a couple are compelled to hire two ambitious lawyers to help resolve the impasse. Instead of offering the solution, however, the warring pair drag their legal counsel into the fraying web of their relationship. While the legal game plays out Luke, a teenager struggling with bipolar disorder, decides to wean himself off his medication. With his state of mind unravelling his mother is forced to act as he progressively becomes isolated from those around him. As the six manoeuvre around each other, each tries desperately to keep control of their own worlds and all risk fuelling the chaos. And as the divorce case darkens the lawyers have to decide how far they can go before they too are implicated.