The Hand That Feeds

The Hand That Feeds runs at the Corpus Playroom from Wednesday 25 to Saturday 28 November, a new play by Francesca Morgan. It's a dark comedy set in 1989, and the story centres on a family grieving the death of a father. The title itself points towards the kind of domestic friction that usually bubbles up when a household is left to pick up the pieces after a loss.

Setting it in 1989 gives the whole thing a specific feel, too. It's a world before the internet, when family arguments happened in the same room and there was nowhere to hide from them. Morgan's play works with that, letting the comedy come from the gaps between what the characters say and what they're actually feeling. It's a dark comedy, so it doesn't shy away from the messier side of grief — the irritation, the old resentments, and the absurd things people do when they're trying to hold it together.

It's a short run, only four nights, so if you're going to catch it, you'll need to pick your evening early. The Corpus Playroom is part of the ADC Theatre in Cambridge, and the production runs from Wednesday 25 to Saturday 28 November.