An intense, elusive, and quietly beautiful play about a family crisis.
In the haze of a late summer in a London garden, the apples have all fallen to the ground. It is the day of Daddy's funeral, and two orphans find themselves suddenly alone, with nobody to cling to but each other.
Robert Holman's play A Breakfast of Eels was premiered at the Print Room at the Coronet, London, in March 2015. It won Best New Play at The Offies (the annual awards for Off-West End theatre) in 2016.
'Intensely absorbing... hushed and unhurried, sensitive and beautiful'
* The Times *'A precise and subtle picture of a family crisis'
* Guardian *'Profound and humane'
* WhatsOnStage *'Immensely satisfying... Robert Holman's play swells, pregnant with meaning and guarded, overcast silences, before breaking into beautiful, painful torrents'
* Time Out *'A compassionate and probing piece'
* Evening Standard *'Elusive, beautiful and incredibly moving'
* The Stage *Robert Holman's other plays include German Skerries (Bush Theatre, 1977); Other Worlds (Royal Court Theatre, 1980); Today (Royal Shakespeare Company, 1984); The Overgrown Path (Royal Court Theatre, 1985); Making Noise Quietly (Bush Theatre, 1987); Across Oka (Royal Shakespeare Company, 1988); Rafts and Dreams (Royal Court Theatre, 1990); Bad Weather (Royal Shakespeare Company, 1998); Holes in the Skin (Chichester Festival Theatre, 2003); Jonah and Otto (Royal Exchange Theatre, 2008) and A Thousand Stars Explode in the Sky, co-written with David Eldridge and Simon Stephens (Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, 2010).
His play Making Noise Quietly was revived at the Donmar Warehouse in 2012, and Jonah and Otto at the Park Theatre in 2014.
He has also written a novel, The Amish Landscape.