A world premiere stage adaptation of Simone de Beauvoir's posthumously published novella, The Inseparables. Coming to the award-winning Finborough Theatre in London from 15 April - 10 May, buy your tickets now.
Nine-year-old Sylvie Lapage prays for France to be saved from the war, but her miracle arrives in the form of the new girl at school… Andrée is unlike anyone else – wildly bright and full of life.
Finally, Sylvie has someone who makes her laugh, someone to talk to about literature, equality, war, and religion, someone to call her closest friend. As the girls become inseparable, they battle against the strictness of their sheltered Catholic bourgeois upbringing.
But as the girls grow up and face the mounting pressures of becoming a young woman, will they ever find the freedom they both hunger for?
Startlingly poignant, The Inseparables tells the true story of an intimate female friendship that shaped one of the most important thinkers and feminists of the 20th century.
Bio
Inseparable Productions is a new theatre company founded by Anastasia Bunce and Grace Joy Howarth. They are dedicated to staging modern classics and adaptations. A key aim is to uncover hidden gems and stories that have rarely been seen onstage before, with a desire to connect with contemporary audiences who may not typically engage with this material.
The world premiere of The Inseparables by Grace Joy Howarth, based on the recently rediscovered critically acclaimed novel by Simone de Beauvoir, opens at the multi-award-winning Finborough Theatre for a four-week limited season on Tuesday, 15 April 2025. Based on the translation by Lauren Elkin, the piece will be directed by Anastasia Bunce and produced by Inseparable Productions.
Director and producer Anastasia Bunce trained in MA Theatre Directing at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts. Previous direction includes: Blood On Your Hands (Southwark Playhouse) selected by Lyn Gardner in her top picks of 2024, Off-fest finalist Meat Cute (Edinburgh Fringe Festival), Darkie Armo Girl (Finborough Theatre, Off-Fest nominated) and Birdie’s Adventures in the Animal Kingdom (Harrow Arts Centre 2022). She recently returned from New York where she worked as Assistant Director on the new musical Life-Line (dir. Alex Howarth) Off-Broadway at the Signature Theatre. She is also the Artistic Director of Patch Plays, a company devoted to staging new work that explores animal ethics and climate change.
She has directed and produced short film adaptations of both Blood on Your Hands and Meat Cute, which will be submitted to film festivals in early 2025.
Additional producer credits include: The Great Gatsby (Golden Goose Theatre), Li Bai (Edinburgh Fringe Festival), The Spirit of the Great Wall (Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Shaw Theatre), and The Wood Spirit (in development.)
Grace Joy Howarth is a playwright, producer, author, and composer from London. Theatrical credits include: Blood on Your Hands (Southwark Playhouse, The Cockpit Theatre), Birdie’s Adventures in the Animal Kingdom (The Greenhouse Theatre, Harrow Arts Centre, Polka Theatre R&D), Until We Can't See the Sky (Resonance FM, Chapel FM), and She is Taken Lightly (Hope Mill Theatre). Her play Blood on Your Hands was shortlisted and longlisted for national awards such as BBC Writersroom, the New Diorama Theatre Untapped Award, the Phoebe Frances Brown Award, the London Library Emerging Writers Programme, and the Masterclass Pitch Your Play award. She adapted Blood on Your Hands into a short film, due to be released in early 2025. She has had over a dozen short stories published, holds a First Class degree in Songwriting, and works as a freelance sustainability writer and editor.
Additional producer credits include: Li Bai (Edinburgh Fringe Festival), The Spirit of the Great Wall (Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Shaw Theatre), and The Wood Spirit (in development.)
