Produced for Soho Theatre

Boys on the Verge of Tears

by Sam Grabiner
directed by James Macdonald

Soho Theatre
2024

Winner: Olivier Award for Best New Production in Affiliate Theatre, 2025
Winner: Stage Debut Award for Writing, 2024
Winner: Verity Bargate Award, 2022

A father waits for his son. Kids hang around skipping school. Fights break out after nights of drinking. Featuring five actors in fifty roles Boys on the Verge of Tears is a bold, kaleidoscopic tale of violence and vulnerability, set entirely in the confines of a men’s public toilet.

‘Wild, thrilling, brutally honest and beautifully tender. This is a truly extraordinary new play.‘
Lucy Kirkwood

Written by Sam Grabiner, the 2022 winner of Soho Theatre’s acclaimed Verity Bargate Award, Boys on the Verge of Tears is a ‘brutal, tender’ exploration of what it is to be a man and is directed by James Macdonald, whose highly acclaimed productions include premieres by Caryl Churchill, Annie Baker and Sarah Kane.

‘A fearless, funny, heart-stopping play about being a boy and becoming a man‘
April De Angelis

Boys on the Verge of Tears was selected from 1,500 entries to the Verity Bargate Award, sponsored by Character 7. The award’s main prize is a fully staged production at Soho Theatre. The judging panel included industry experts James Graham (Dear England; The Crown), April de Angelis (Jumpy, Royal Court; West End), and BAFTA-nominated Theresa Ikoko (Girls, HighTide & Soho Theatre).

Director: James Macdonald
Set and Costume Design: Ashley Martin-Davis
Lighting Design: Peter Mumford
Sound Designer: Ian Dickinson for Autograph
Costume Supervisor: Zoë Thomas Webb
Assistant Director: Alex Kampfner
Lighting Associate: Claire Gerrens
Intimacy and Fight Co-ordinator: Enric Ortuño
Casting Director: Amy Ball CDG
Production Manager: Tom Nickson
Associate Producer: Eve Allin

Producer: David Luff for Soho Theatre

Press:
Time Out eview (4 Stars)
The Stage review (4 Stars)