Hothouse flowers under Theatre Paradok

EDINBURGH University-based drama society Theatre Paradok returns to the Assembly Roxy, Roxburgh Place, next week with their own take on Harold Pinter's The Hothouse.

Theatre Paradok present Harold Pinters The Hothouse.

Set in a state-run sanatorium where the ‘patients’ are political dissidents undergoing various corrective treatments, The Hothouse explores the casual inhumanity and corruption that creeps into institutions and festers beneath bureaucracy.

One patient, 6457, has recently died. Another, 6459, has given birth, after being raped by a staff member. Roote, the man in charge, is apparently unaware of either situation, despite having signed the death certificate and met the pregnant woman days earlier.

Meanwhile, inmates are restrained and electrocuted. Muffled screams seep through the walls, all detailed with a precise wit and hilariously dark comedy by Pinter. With some gender reversal and further distortion of the text, Paradok promise to take you on an adventure through one of Pinter’s best pieces.

The Hothouse, Assembly Roxy, Roxburgh Place, 23-26 March, 7pm, £7, www.assemblyroxy.com or on door