The Painkiller Podcast

“Nails don’t get wrinkles. My hands look like walnuts but my nails could be anyone's."

Harriet is 78 years old. She gets her nails done every week so she can sit opposite Tien. A beautician who is too young to mention.

The Last Manicure is a dark comedy that looks at need, desire and the brutality of growing old.

Cast: Miriam Margolyes (Harry Potter, Age of Innocence, Blackadder, Romeo + Juliet).

Creatives: Written by Amy Baty, Directed by Max Elton, Sound by Piers Sherwood-Roberts.

Bitter Pill are trying to produce new writing until theatres in the UK reopen. Through The Painkiller Project, they are open for submissions once a month and are producing a winning play each fortnight as a podcast available as The Painkiller Podcast on all podcast platforms. They plan to stage highlights from the project in front of an audience at a point after this becomes a possibility.
 
As things currently stand, we are getting closer to the point where everyone involved in the project gets paid. This is because of the generosity of those who have donated to the project, to whom we would like to say, thank you so much.
 
If you can afford to donate, or if you know anyone who might want to support the project, there are two options:
 
You can make a one-off donation through PayPal.me - https://www.paypal.me/bitterpilltheatre

Or, you can become a patron to the project through Patreon. This allows you to make a donation that would be repeated each time a new winning play is released, fortnightly - http://patreon.com/bitterpilltheatre

It would mean the world to us and allow us to make more work.

To find out more about Bitter Pill or to subscribe to our mailing list for more news about The Painkiller Project - https://www.bitterpilltheatre.com/

“People die doing the most ridiculous things. Changing TV aerials, falling out of the window putting their trousers on. Doing crosswords."

On a park bench, Michael is joined by a man of grotesque proportions who has clearly mistaken him for someone else. A Case of Mistaken Identity is an absurd and witty vignette, that explores the dark matter of…wrong place, wrong time.

Cast: BAFTA and Olivier Award-Winning Toby Jones (Berberian Sound Studio, Marvellous, The Birthday Party, Uncle Vanya) and Tony Award-Winning Owen Teale (Game of Thrones, Dream Horse, Discovery of Witches, Rutherford and Son and Ivanov at the National Theatre). 

Bitter Pill are trying to produce new writing until theatres in the UK reopen. Through The Painkiller Project, they are open for submissions once a month and are producing a winning play each fortnight as a podcast available as The Painkiller Podcast on all podcast platforms. They plan to stage highlights from the project in front of an audience at a point after this becomes a possibility.

As things currently stand, we are getting closer to the point where everyone involved in the project gets paid. This is because of the generosity of those who have donated to the project, to whom we would like to say, thank you so much.
​
If you can afford to donate, or if you know anyone who might want to support the project, there are two options:

You can make a one-off donation through PayPal.me - https://www.paypal.me/bitterpilltheatre

Or, you can become a patron to the project through Patreon. This allows you to make a donation that would be repeated each time a new winning play is released, fortnightly - http://patreon.com/bitterpilltheatre

It would mean the world to us and allow us to make more work.

To find out more about Bitter Pill or to subscribe to our mailing list for more news about The Painkiller Project - https://www.bitterpilltheatre.com/

Hello? Are you squished? Have I squelched you?

When a woman’s bath falls through the floor into the flat below, she meets her downstairs neighbour for the very first time. 

This unforeseen meeting raises plenty of questions. Why is the bath full of tabloids and celebrity magazines? Where are all of the downstairs neighbour’s belongings? Is it possible to have too much stuff? Is it possible to have too little? 

Stuff is a witty and surreal reminder that we never know what the insides of other people’s homes look like and asks how far we might go for some space.

Written by Alison Carr. Directed by Max Elton. Sound by Piers Sherwood-Roberts. Cast: Sophie Thompson (Feel Good, Present Laughter (Old Vic), Four Weddings and a Funeral). 

Bitter Pill committed to producing new writing until theatres in the UK reopen. Through The Painkiller Project, we are open for submissions once a fortnight and are producing the winning play each fortnight as a podcast available as The Painkiller Podcast on all podcast platforms. We plan to stage highlights from the project in front of an audience at a point after this becomes a possibility.

We have already raised some money to get the project off the ground. If people like this idea and it grows, we hope to pay everyone else involved in the project. For this to happen, in the long run, we are going to be reliant on the generosity of others. 
​
If you can afford to donate, or if you know anyone who might want to donate to the continuation of the project there are two options:

• You can make a one-off donation through PayPal.me - https://www.paypal.me/bitterpilltheatre
• Or, you can become a patron to the project through Patreon. This allows you to make a donation that would be repeated each time a new winning play is released, fortnightly - http://patreon.com/bitterpilltheatre

It would mean the world to us and allow us to make more work.

To find out more about Bitter Pill or to subscribe to our mailing list for more news about The Painkiller Project - https://www.bitterpilltheatre.com/