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Sprocket Theatre presents the world exclusive of black comedy The Rules: Sex, Lies and Serial Killers, and the Edinburgh debut of playwright Lila Whelan.

Toying with our current gleeful obsession with TV anti-heroes (House of Cards, Breaking Bad, Dexter, The Wire), The Rules is a deliciously deviant imaging of what serial killers get up to behind closed doors. A slick, thrilling and blackly funny comedy, the play promises to leave a bloody trail of laughter in its wake.

Director Jez Pike says "The Rules is a dark, sexy and brilliantly funny play that's so original it quite possibly creates its own genre; the blackly comic serial-killer romance. Whelan wittily suggests an alternative world that is all around us, one where avenging angels strike in the shadows and civilians are known as 'beards'. Yet she succeeds in grounding the play in utterly believable characters who desperately strive to find some kind of normalcy despite their psychopathic tendencies. Full of quick-fire dialogue and mischievous twists, The Rules manages to be both a devilish roller-coaster ride and a truthful rendering of love in the most unlikely places."

Synopsis

Psychopaths Jay, Mel and Steven meet up once in a while to unwind, hang up their guns and let their hair down - within a few guidelines established for their protection and anonymity of course. But when the innocent Teresa enters their world, loyalties are tested and the rules start to get broken, one by one. And when serial killers break the rules, the consequences can be a little... messy. But hey, rules are made to be broken, aren't they?

Biographies

Sprocket Theatre: Sprocket was established in 2012 by Lila Whelan to create theatre that moves, challenges, haunts and entertains. We do this by working on all levels from a place of truth and positivity, engaging new and emerging talent, and ensuring women represent at least fifty per cent of each production - on and off stage. The Rules is Sprocket's Edinburgh debut. Previous productions include The Deep Space at the Old Red Lion Theatre, London.

Lila Whelan - Playwright: A trained journalist and actor (Central School of Speech and Drama 2012), Lila began playwriting in 2011 in order to combine her two great loves of theatre and writing. She is drawn to the dark, to the comic and to the extraordinary. In 2013 her debut The Deep Space opened at the Old Red Lion Theatre, London. She was then commissioned by Tacit Theatre to write A Study In Scarlet which ran at the Southwark Playhouse in 2014. The Rules is her third play and marks her Edinburgh debut.

Jez Pike - Director: Since graduating from the MFA Directing course at Birkbeck in 2012, Jez has worked predominately at the Theatre by the Lake. Credits there include The Wintering, Not About Heroes which went on to tour regionally, and The Shape Of Things.

Between 2008 and 2010 he was the Director in Residence of Upstairs at Three and Ten, an award-winning fringe theatre in Brighton. He directed seven productions there including Janis which won Best Female Performer at the Brighton Fringe Awards 2009 and subsequently transferred to the Edinburgh Festival where it was nominated for Best Solo Performance by The Stage Acting Awards.

As an assistant he has worked with Helena-Kaut Howson on Sons Without Fathers (Belgrade Theatre/Arcola), on the world premiere of Robert Holman's A Breakfast Of Eels and with Howard Davies on Temple at the Donmar Warehouse starring Simon Russell Beale (May 2015).

Isabel Dixon - Producer: Isabel has worked as a freelance producer and playwright since 2011. She is Theatre Manager of London's Space Arts Centre and co-founder of Burn Bright Theatre, who's debut Vernon God Little received praise from both critics and audiences. She has worked with a variety of other companies, primarily as Executive Producer of award-nominated Jackinabox Productions (Belin, The Hotel) and Associate Producer for six times Off West End Award-nominated Space Productions (Hamlyn, Festen).

Carys Beard - Costume and Set Designer: Carys graduated from The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama with a 1st Class Ba Hons Degree in Theatre Design and The Paul Kimpton Prize for Innovation in 2012. In 2013, she was selected as a finalist for The Linbury Prize for Stage Design with The National Theatre of Scotland. Credits include Twelfth Night, Iris Theatre; The Circus, Assembly Bosco; The Memory Of Water, GSA.

Ella Wahlström - Sound Designer: DV8, John; Frantic Assembly, Othello; Mischief Theatre, Peter Pan Goes Wrong; Tacit Theatre, A Study In Scarlet.