''Ecstasy'' is a 1979 play by British

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

Mike Leigh Mike Leigh (born 20 February 1943) is an English film and theatre director, screenwriter and playwright. He studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and further at the Camberwell School of Art, the Central School of Art and Des ...

with a six-character cast. It covers the life of four

blue-collar A blue-collar worker is a working class person who performs manual labor. Blue-collar work may involve skilled or unskilled labor. The type of work may involving manufacturing, warehousing, mining, excavation, electricity generation and powe ...

friends living in a ratty area of

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

near Kilburn High Road and the drunken frustration in their lives, particularly that of the lead character Jean. Jean is a suicidal garage attendant who sleeps with unsuitable men, like Roy, drinks heavily and has abortions. Her friend from

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

, Dawn, who has had three children, brings back her husband Mick, an Irish labourer, and his quiet friend, Len, to Jean's bleak Kilburn bedsitter, - 'their second act ensemble trumpets the dark night of the soul, in what is at once one of the best and gloomiest party scenes in contemporary drama.' The play opened at the Hampstead Theatre on 26 September 1979. The production was designed by

Alison Chitty Alison Chitty (born 16 October 1948) is an Olivier Award winning production designer and set and costume designer, known for her collaborations with Mike Leigh, Francesca Zambello, Peter Gill and Sir Peter Hall. She is also the Director of the ...

, and the cast comprised Sheila Kelley as Jean, Ron Cook as Roy,

Rachel Davies Rachel Davies is an English actress. She has numerous television credits to her name, including '' Boon'' (1986), '' A Little Bit Of Lippy'' (1989), ''Emmerdale'' (1993–94), '' Band of Gold'' (1995–96), '' Hillsborough'' (1996), and '' The C ...

as Val,

Julie Walters Dame Julia Mary Walters (born 22 February 1950), known professionally as Julie Walters, is an English actress. She is the recipient of four British Academy Television Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, two International Emmy Awards, a B ...

as Dawn,

Stephen Rea Stephen Rea ( ; born 31 October 1946) is an Irish film and stage actor. Rea has appeared in films such as '' V for Vendetta'', '' Michael Collins'', ''Interview with the Vampire'' and '' Breakfast on Pluto''. Rea was nominated for the Academy Aw ...

as Mick, and

Jim Broadbent James Broadbent (born 24 May 1949) is an English actor. He won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for his supporting role as John Bayley in the feature film '' Iris'' (2001), as well as winning a BAFTA TV Award and a Golden Globe for ...

as Len. For both Broadbent and Rea, this was the first of several collaborations with Leigh. A new production directed by Leigh, and starring Sian Brooke, Daniel Coonan, Claire Louise Cordwell, Allen Leech,

Sinead Matthews Sinead Matthews (born ) is an English actress whose credits include film, television and stage. Her notable TV roles include Marcia Williams in ''The Crown''. She was born in Coventry, England, and attended Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School ...

, and Craig Parkinson opened on 10 March 2011 at the Hampstead Theatre, and transferred to the Duchess Theatre in Covent Garden on 12 April 2011.

References

Plays by Mike Leigh 1979 plays {{1970s-play-stub