Spanish Oranges

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Written by Alba Arikha

Directed by Myriam Cyr

Starring: Maryam d'Abo and Jay VilliersVenue

💛 Date: 11^th Feb 2026 – 7th March 2026 

💛 Location: The Playground Theatre, Unit 8, Latimer Road Industrial Estate, 343-453 Latimer Road, London, W10 6RQ

💛 https://www.theplaygroundtheatre.org.uk/projects/spanish-oranges-

By Nicole Kent

Alba Arikha crafts a tightly framed domestic chamber piece set over a single morning in a north London home. Boxes remain half-unpacked — vinyl, magazines, baby clothes, copies of Virginia Woolf — and advance editions of Fiona’s latest novel lie scattered across the room. A bowl of oranges sits symbolically at the centre. The atmosphere is cultured, curated and quietly tense.

Fiona (Maryam d’Abo), a celebrated novelist on the cusp of a major interview, prepares to discuss her new book, Spanish Oranges. Her husband Ivo (Jay Villiers), once a respected actor, has been professionally “cancelled” following a sex scandal. He suspects her success has flourished in the vacuum of his disgrace. Into this fragile space steps their daughter Lydia (Arianna Branca), arriving unexpectedly from university and further destabilising an already brittle morning.

The premise promises a sharp excavation of ego, artistic ownership and the porous boundary between public narrative and private truth. Arikha gestures toward the lineage of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Scenes from a Marriage, invoking the tradition of the intelligent marital autopsy. In its first half, the play delivers on that ambition.The dialogue is emotionally layered. Information is revealed with careful restraint, allowing the audience to assemble the couple’s history through implication rather than exposition. Power shifts subtly between them; sympathy see-saws from line to line. The chemistry between d’Abo and Villiers is convincing, capturing the specific rhythm of a long marriage — where irritation, tenderness and rivalry coexist in a single glance.

Fiona (Maryam d’Abo) &  Ivo (Jay Villiers)

Villiers brings restless volatility and bruised self-pity to Ivo without tipping into caricature. Even in his character’s more abrasive moments, there is a recognisable humanity. D’Abo counters with a controlled, quietly exhausted performance; flickers of warmth break through Fiona’s composure just enough to remind us of what once bound them together.

There are effective moments: a shared memory, a fleeting gesture of vulnerability, a pointed silence that says more than dialogue. Yet the emotional stakes never quite deepen beyond the initial spark. The arguments circle familiar terrain, becoming repetitive rather than cumulative. Tensions escalate quickly but without sufficient variation, softening their eventual impact. While the themes — sexism, creative jealousy, public shame — are timely and resonant, they feel touched upon rather than fully interrogated.

Overall, Spanish Oranges is clearly an ambitious and thoughtful debut - its opening half crackles with intelligent observation and sharply drawn tension.

★★★★ The Independent

“Emotional bombs detonate… a gripping psychodrama.”

★★★★ North West End

“Very entertaining, skilfully performed and surprisingly engaging.”

★★★★ London Pub Theatres

“A must-see — intense yet full of humour and meaning.”