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From the inimitable Andrew Bovell (When the Rain Stops Falling, Things I Know to Be True) comes a superb new play of passion, history and politics, intimate in its detail and epic in its storytelling.

Camelia is losing her grip, lost between the past and the present as she passes her days in the garden of her Madrid home. Her children employ Alejandro, a Colombian migrant, to look after her. But this house isn’t what it seems, keeping the terrible secrets of history in its stones. As Alejandro’s presence begins to unlock the past, it shakes a family that has buried its pain – and its country’s – for too long.

This is a dazzling piece of writing. Set in 1968 and the present, it unpicks the instincts that drive individuals and whole societies towards fear and violence – and perhaps, also, reconciliation. Andrew wrote it with and for an acclaimed theatre collective in Madrid, where it premiered, in Spanish, in 2023. We’ve invited Jorge Muriel and Borja Maestre from that original cast to join the great Kerry Fox and Sarah Peirse for the English premiere. I think you can call it a must-see. – Eamon Flack

Content warning: Please check Belvoir's production page of Song of First Desire below for the most up-to-date information

Find out more about Song of First Desire. Presented by Belvoir St Theatre.