IN a world of tinsel and jingle bells, Edward Albee’s classic 1962 play of domestic misery on an American campus is a start contrast, but that’s what is on offer at Strode Theatre Studio in Street from 14th to 16th December.

Neil Howiantz directs the Strode Theatre Productions version of the play, which will be on the intimate Studio stage nightly at 7.15pm. He has cast Karen Trevis in the fearsome role of Martha the Principal’s daughter, opposite Rob Prince as her lecturer husband George. The story, told over the course of one night after a college party, unpeels the painful layers of their unhappy marriage, when new faculty member Nick (Will Vero) and his sensitive wife Honey (Eliane Morgan) come round for a nightcap.

This brilliant play is justifiably famous and its psychological insights are a timeless reminder that no matter how much we convince ourselves that “good mental health” is a “human right”, we have the capacity for endless pain and cruelty. It might not sound Christmassy, but if you want a break from pantomime and advertising pressure, there are still a few tickets left.

Pictured are Karen Trevis and Rob Prince in rehearsal.