Parents-to-be Kurt and Martha just want the best for their baby. They're not afraid of hard work – the latest buggy doesn't come cheap. But when Kurt's boss offers him a chance to make some easy money with a mysterious side job, his rashness catches up with him.

A fable about the moral and environmental cost of our materialistic nesting instincts, Conor McPherson's powerful new version of Franz Xaver Kroetz's Das Nest premiered at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast, in 2016 and the Young Vic, London, directed by Ian Rickson.



Franz Xaver Kroetz (b. 1946) is one of the most distinguished living German playwrights. His plays include Through the Leaves and The Nest. He is also an actor and film director.

Conor McPherson is an award-winning Irish playwright. Educated at University College Dublin, he went on to found the Fly by Night Theatre Company, which produced several of his early plays. His best-known works include The Weir (Royal Court, winner of the 1999 Olivier Award for Best New Play), Dublin Carol (Altantic Theater Company, New York) and The Seafarer (National Theatre, also director). He has also written for film.



'Under the ferocity of Conor McPherson's translation, Franz Xaver Kroetz's hard-hitting domestic drama feels very much like a play for today... a political diatribe for our times'



'Quietly devastating… turn[s] a slow, deliberate gaze on what desperation looks like'



'A deceptively gentle descent into claustrophobia and worse… McPherson's wry tone is enjoyable, and the bleaker sections whump you in the guts'