The Factory Theatre is proud to present Faith Carolyn Ward’s The Hand That Locks the Holding Pen, directed by Mikaela Stroud, for the 2024 Auckland Fringe Festival.

Meet Mandy and Mick Sinclair- they’re the newest couple on the block, and the picture-perfect upper-middle class empty-nesters next door. She’s a teacher. He’s a doctor. They live in one of Auckland’s most affluent neighbourhoods and have two grown children, alliterating names, and their fair share of suburban shenanigans. However, there’s something slightly unusual about the seemingly squeaky-clean Sinclairs, and there seems to be something much more sinister hiding behind their white picket fences. After spending a few years in India and attempting to raise a tiger cub as a child, the Sinclairs decided to take on a new adventure- one that doesn’t require them to go any further than their own doorstep. To the surprise of their realtor, the house they’ve just moved into was the same one they raised their children in. As they find themselves haunted by the absence of a lively family household, and all they left behind, the couple are forced to confront their unresolved guilt… however that may be.

Shocking, sentimental, and provocative, The Hand That Locks the Holding Pen is an absurdist fever dream that will leave you feeling nostalgic yet sick with anxiety. With nods to classics such as The Maids, Hedda Gabler, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Glass Menagerie, and Pinter’s The Lover, this is the first of Ward’s white picket fence drama subgenre. It explores the mundanity of bourgeois suburban life, and just how tightly one would be willing to hold onto what they once had.

R16: Contains adult themes, mild sexual themes and violence

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Please note, no outside food or beverages are allowed to be brought into the venue. Water is available free of charge!

The Hand That Locks the Holding Pen

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