“Absolute Hell” explores the freedoms and the fragilities of 1940s London

Absolute Hell


An intoxicating plunge into post-war Soho.

Bomb-blasted London. A Soho den in the hangover from World War II, where members drink into the darkness, night after night. Lying, fighting and seducing, these lost souls and bruised lovers struggle from the rubble of war towards an unknown future.


Absolute Hell, Rodney Ackland’s extraordinarily provocative play, was condemned as ‘a libel on the British people’ when first performed in 1952. Now it emerges as an intoxicating plunge into post-war Soho; full of despair and longing.

https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/shows/absolute-hell


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Hugh Marriner’s anxieties continue to resonate. His inability to impress his partner, his failure to find a sustainable career and the emasculating retreat to his mother’s spare bedroom will be uncomfortably familiar to a modern young audience

“Absolute Hell” explores the freedoms and the fragilities of 1940s London

First performed in 1952, Rodney Ackland’s play initially caused unease

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