Dealing With Clair (Old Fitz) ★★★★

Written by Martin Crimp. Presented by Irregular Programming. The Old Fitz Theatre. 10-25 Jul, 2026.

In an unnerving play that uses the world of real estate as the backdrop to explore the hypocrisy of the landed classes, and the isolating pressure of city life, perhaps the most horrific thing is simply the price of property back in 1988 when the play first premiered. A “four” bed house with a garden on a nice road in London for less than you’d pay for a studio flat in 2026 – I gasped.

Young, successful couple Mike (Arkia Ashraf) and Liz (Talia Benatar) are looking to sell their house but they know how awful and predatory the London real estate market can be, where a buyer can be gazumped at the last minute by a higher bid. They want to do things ethically – list a fair asking price, and accept the first offer to reach it. As their real estate agent, Clair (Olivia Hall-Smith) gently manipulates them into greed, all while appearing to save them from their own naivety. Things are looking rosy when a new buyer, James (Daniel Fletcher), turns up with a large cash offer. Everyone is happy to overlook James’ personality quirks when he’s the one who is about to make them all quite rich.

Inspired by the real life disappearance of London real estate agent Suzy Lamplugh in 1986, playwright Martin Crimp takes aim at the unleashed greed of Thatcherite Britain, and sadly nothing much has changed since. In this layered satire, Crimp’s villain is society as a whole, a toxic Id unmoored from any sense of community. Mike and Liz justify their greed in small steps as they look down on their nanny, Anna (a scathing performance by Jade Fuda), and mock Clair behind her back. When Clair disappears, her entire existence in London is swept away by a city of people only looking after themselves. As tradesman Ashley (Bayley Prendergast) points out, the house itself has flaws that everyone is overlooking. Only James seems to have the measure of the modern world, and his response is terrifying.

Soham Apte’s set creates a sterile box with sliding, translucent doors. It screams featureless, mass-produced neutral – the colour of empty hallways so inoffensive to everyone it basically rejects inspection. On this backdrop, Izzy Morrissey’s lighting brings movement and tone, as well as a harsh modernity in neon strips. Director Harry Reid invites ghosts to inhabit the space – the child we never see, Anna lurking in the next room, a stain you barely notice until you do. Even the makeshift nature of an independent theatre set accentuates the themes of transience and impermanence.

Daniel Fletcher’s off-kilter performance as the polite James strikes just the right note. He exists in another reality, an alien lacking the delusions of the other characters while steeped in their manners. Around him, Olivia Hall-Smith’s Clair tries to manoeuvre and engage with him while deflecting his unwanted intrusions. There is a fear beneath her professional, determined exterior. Meanwhile, Arkia Ashraf and Talia Benatar’s entitled couple are brilliantly clueless to their own corruptions.

After some less-than-thrilling exposures to Crimp’s work, I’ve started to come around to his writing – mainly thanks to the team at Irregular Programming. Or maybe I’m just more comfortable with the darkness of life now, and I find myself on Crimp’s wavelength. Either way, Dealing With Clair is a disturbing but rewarding watch.