1968. East Berlin.

Anna and Hans are married, in love and moving up in the world - but it is a world ruled by suspicion. Who can be trusted when everyone is listening? Can we ever escape our past?

Written by playwright Ella Hickson, and co-created with sound designers Ben and Max Ringham, ANNA unfolds with all the tension of a spy thriller, and the inexorable revelations of an Ibsen play.

ANNA premiered at the National Theatre, London, in May 2019, directed by Natalie Abrahami, with the audience wearing individual headsets to direct their attention amongst the overlapping scenes on stage. This uniquely formatted edition of the script features all of the play's dialogue, including the scenes seen but not heard in performance.

'Marvellous... a political thriller with a retro edge... a complex multilayered plot worthy of Le Carré' - The Times

'Intimate and disturbing' - Observer

'Fascinating... ANNA is both an audio experiment and an investigation of the lies and suspicion surrounding life in communist East Berlin' - Guardian

Ella Hickson is an award-winning writer whose work has been performed throughout the UK and abroad.

Her work includes: Swive [Elizabeth] (Sam Wanamaker Playhouse at Shakespeare's Globe, 2019); ANNA (National Theatre, 2019); The Writer (Almeida Theatre, 2018); Oil (Almeida Theatre, London, 2016); Wendy & Peter Pan (Royal Shakespeare Company, 2013 and 2015); Riot Girls (Radio 4); Boys (Nuffield Theatre, Southampton/Headlong Theatre/HighTide Festival Theatre, 2012); The Authorised Kate Bane (Grid Iron/Traverse Theatre, 2012); Rightfully Mine (Radio 4); Precious Little Talent (Trafalgar Studios/Tantrums Productions, 2011), Hot Mess (Arcola Tent/ Tantrums Productions, 2010) and Eight (Trafalgar Studios/Bedlam Theatre, Edinburgh, 2008/9).