From the author of ‘Shopping and F******’ comes a riveting play about power, justice and the consequences of complicity.

After dedicating 45 years to teaching, Edward and his wife plan to celebrate his retirement. But the revelation that he once punished misbehaving pupils with the cane (which was legal at the time) leads to angry recriminations. His house is besieged by demonstrating pupils, and his estranged daughter has arrived with her own agenda.

Through the eyes of this fractured family unit, The Cane examines opposing attitudes of different generations towards education, authority and corporal punishment, and asks whether we can understand the mistakes of the past without excusing them.