Synopsis
The Unfriend
Published by Nick Hern Books
4 Male 3 Female
Peter and Debbie are enjoying a cruise – a celebration of twenty years of marriage, and a break from their annoying teenagers
They befriend fellow passenger, Elsa Jean Krakowski, an eccentric American with a fondness for Donald Trump
There's something slightly unsettling in her overeager friendliness... but there's no point rocking the boat if you're about to get off it
Back home, in the comfort of suburbia, Elsa suddenly turns up on Peter and Debbie's doorstep, unexpectedly
And when they look up their house guest online, unearthing some hair-raising evidence, their good nature is challenged as never before
What kind of danger have they allowed to take up residence in their guest room?
And can they bring themselves to say anything about it?
Sometimes, the truth is just too impolite
Steven Moffat's play The Unfriend takes a hilarious and satirical look at middle-class England's disastrous instinct always to appear nice
It was first performed at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester, in May 2022
REVIEW
"Moffat ... has created a comedy of manners that niftily speeds along and is full of outrageous humour but always stays just the right side of farce ... It's a killer comedy to die for" ~ WhatsOnStage