DRIFTWOOD

03 Jun – 04 Jul 2026
Priority booking, 22 Sep, 10am
General booking, 8 Oct, 10am

The Royal Shakespeare Company in association with Kiln Theatre presents

Driftwood

by Martina Laird

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‘dis is my home. My whole life. My history here. And de only future I go have is here.’

As colonial Trinidad advances towards political independence, a downtown Port of Spain gentlemen’s club becomes entangled in a different kind of custody battle.

ALMA promises its guests a comfortable environment to relax and indulge. Owned by Englishman Mansion, it’s governed by Pearl and coveted by beguiling Ruby.

Then Diamond drifts in. His impetuous deal with a corrupt US Marine imperils ALMA, and all their lives are collateral damage. One wrong move and everything could shatter.

Driftwood is the first play from Martina Laird. Directed by Chichester Festival Theatre’s Artistic Director Justin Audibert and set in 1950s Caribbean, it’s a deeply evocative story of self-determination and the search for family and belonging.

Important Information

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Special Performances

Post show Q&A: Fri 19 Jun, 7.30pm
Alcohol Free Performance: Tue 30 Jun, 7.30pm

Access Performances

Captioned Performances: Thu 2 Jul, 7.30pm
Touch Tour: Thu 25 Jun, 6pm
Audio Described Performance: Thu 25 Jun, 7.30pm
Relaxed Performance: Sat 27 Jun, 2.30pm

Click here for Access information. If you have any questions about any of our services or need assistance in arranging your visit please get in touch: 020 7328 1000 or Access@KilnTheatre.com.

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Ticket Prices

£15 – £40

Dates

03 Jun – 04 Jul 2026
Priority booking, 22 Sep, 10am
General booking, 8 Oct, 10am

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Creative Team

Martina Laird

Writer

Martina Laird is an award-winning actor, writer, and director with an extensive career across stage and screen.

Her theatre credits include Cymbeline, All’s Well That Ends Well, Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare’s Globe); The New Real, Coriolanus, The White Devil, Three Hours After Marriage, Troilus and Cressida (Royal Shakespeare Company), Meetings (Orange Tree Theatre); Animal Kingdom (Hampstead Theatre); King Hedley II, Bad Blood Blues (Stratford East); Shebeen (Nottingham Playhouse); Julius Caesar/Henry IV/The Tempest, Othello (Donmar Warehouse); The House That Will Not Stand, Three Sisters (Kiln Theatre); Moon On A Rainbow Shawl (Talawa Theatre/National Theatre); Hopelessly Devoted (Birmingham Rep); All The Little Things We Crushed (Almeida Theatre); Mules (Young Vic); The Five Wives of Maurice Pinder (National Theatre); Arabian Nights (West End/World Tour); Breath Boom (Royal Court); Hyacinth Blue (Lyric Theatre); Inheritance (Live Theatre); Venetian Heat (Finsborough Theatre); Hungry Ghosts (The Tabard Theatre).

Television includes Dreaming Whilst Black, Casualty, Shakespeare and Hathaway, EastEnders, Doctors, My Family, Jonathan Creek, Missing (BBC); The Department (Paramount); The Count of Monte Cristo (France Televisions/RAI); Sense and Sensibility, Pinch of Portugal (Hallmark); Dreamland (Sky Atlantic); Coronation Street, The Bay, Jericho (ITV); Shameless, London’s Burning (Channel 4); Little Big Mouth (Pagoda Films).

Film includes The Last Dance (Soul Rebel Productions), Shrike (Mudstreet Productions), 10 Swords & The Moon, The Little Mermaid (Disney); Boxing Day; Summerland (Shoebox Films); Deadmeat; For-get-me-not (Quicksilver Films); Blitz (Lionsgate).

Directing includes Under The Table (Talawa); The Night Woman (The Other Palace); Fly Me To The Moon (Interchange Studios); Sunshine (Southwark Playhouse); Associate director credits include Get Up Stand Up (Playful Productions).

Justin Audibert

Director

Justin Audibert has been Artistic Director of Chichester Festival Theatre since July 2023. His Chichester productions include Redlands in the Festival Theatre, and The Caretaker and Hamlet in the Minerva Theatre.

Previously, he was Artistic Director of the Unicorn Theatre where he directed The Three Billy Goats Gruff (also at the Minerva Theatre), Pinocchio, Marvin’s Binoculars, The Canterville Ghost, Anansi The Spider, Aesop’s Fables, Beowulf and My Mother Medea.

For the Royal Shakespeare Company he has directed The Box of Delights, The Taming of the Shrew (also broadcast live to cinemas internationally), Snow in Midsummer and The Jew of Malta. Other recent theatre directing credits include: Macbeth and The Winter’s Tale (National Theatre); Snow in Midsummer (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); The Box of Delights (Wilton’s Music Hall); The Cardinal (Southwark Playhouse); The Jumper Factory (Young Vic Prison Project); How (Not) to Live in Suburbia and Wingman (Soho Theatre); The Man with The Hammer (Plymouth Theatre Royal); Unscorched (Finborough Theatre); and Gruesome Playground Injuries (Gate Theatre).

His productions of Macbeth and The Winter’s Tale, both adapted by him for young audiences, are part of the National Theatre Collection; and he wrote and presented the two BBC Live Lessons on Shakespeare for the RSC. For Unicorn Online, his work included Marvin’s Binoculars, Anansi The Spider Re-spun and Philip Pullman’s Hansel and Gretel. He directed the short film Joseph Knight for the National Theatre of Scotland and BBC Scotland.

In 2012 he was the recipient of the Leverhulme Award for Emerging Directors from the National Theatre Studio. He is a trustee of Invisible Flock and the Peggy Ramsay Foundation.