Ikaria

Maybe we shouldn’t always stay here. Maybe we should stay at yours, or you should stay at yours and I should stay here. Sometimes.

Simon has returned to uni after taking a year out. He wants to get on with his finals and not slip back into old, destructive habits. Mia, a first-year, is embracing the explosive freedom of life away from home.

Simon doesn’t want to leave his room. But then he meets Mia.

Philippa Lawford’s Ikaria is a love story about finding salvation in someone else.

Ikaria was awarded as runner-up for the Ambassador Theatre Group Playwrights’ Prize, in association with Platform Presents and Time Out, and also received an Offie Short Run Commendation for the world premiere at the Old Red Lion Theatre in November 2022. Ikaria was originally developed by Tightrope Theatre with support from New Diorama Theatre.

This edition was published to coincide with the UK tour in September 2023.

Philippa Lawford is a London-based playwright and director. She has been directing plays on the fringe for the last few years and she trained as a writer with the John Burgess Playwriting Course and an MSt in Writing for Performance from Cambridge University. Philippa has worked as an assistant director (Saviour, Jermyn Street Theatre) and reader (Finborough Theatre, ETPEP award) alongside her writing and directing work. Ikaria was her first full-length play, which originally premiered at the Old Red Lion Theatre in November 2022 before returning for a UK tour in September 2023.