Leopards

You know I’m in pain, you know you can help relieve it, still you actively withhold, you withhold in case it compromises your moral compass?

Two strangers meet in a hotel bar for the first time under false pretenses. Flattery, adulation and mutual admiration allows their friendship to kindle as the night progresses.

As these disparate and opposing characters joust and jostle for the upper-hand, tensions build and the power dynamic continually shifts, resulting in history coming to the forefront and unknown feelings rising to the surface, with surprising consequences.

Leopards is Alys Metcalf’s debut play and is published to coincide with the world premiere at Rose Theatre, Kingston, in September 2021.

Alys Metcalf is a Welsh writer. She recently wrote the comedy Beginner’s Guide toLine of Duty, voiced by Diane Morgan for BBC platforms. Her interactive story, The Act, was commissioned by BBC Taster. Her TV sitcom, The Home, was optioned by Hartswood Films and she has developed another sitcom and two shorts with Sharon Horgan’s company, Merman. Her short film, Remnants, was screened at The Hackney Empire as part of the London Short Film Festival and won the main award for Best Film and Best Writing in the International 100 Hour Film Racing competition. Alys has also been part of the writers’ room for BBC Radio Wales’s topical comedy show, The Leak.

In terms of theatre, Alys’s new play (title TBA) has been taken on for a full 2021 run at The Rose Theatre, directed by Artistic Director, Christopher Haydon and produced by Francesca Moody Productions. Alys’s other plays include five-star sell-out hit You Only Live Forever, at SOHO Theatre, Reel Life, at Ustinov Studio Theatre Royal Bath, and Unearthed, which was chosen as one of the Guardian Readers’ Favourite plays of 2015 and enjoyed a successful UK tour, playing the Arcola, Hull Truck and Cheltenham Everyman theatres, amongst others.