In the latest play at the cornerHOUSE none of the actors speak.  What’s going on inside their heads, however, speaks volumes.  People, Watching is set in a generic waiting room where the only words spoken are by the receptionist as she calls the next number through.   But the audience are let into the secret thoughts of those waiting by pre-recorded audio.

Writer and director Scott Matheson explains: “The audience will hear the thoughts of each person even though they aren’t actually speaking.

“It’s about the funny little things that we think about.  Some of them are sad, some are funny and some are interesting.

“There is one guy who’s obsessed with the number four and lists hundreds of different reasons why four is so special – from the Beatles to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

“Then there’s an old man who is losing his mind and is going back and forth in time in his own head.

“You discover people’s inner hopes, heartbreaks and fears.  “One person will just be thinking about what they had for dinner and that they’re going to get another chocolate bar, while another is trying to work out why it is a man broke their heart when she loved him with all the force she could muster.”  People, Watching is, however, a play that very nearly didn’t happen, with the company set to fill the slot with another offering.

Matheson explains: “We had a play scheduled called The Mother Star but, because of a bereavement, we had to postpone it.

“Rather than just scrapping the production and leaving the cornerHOUSE with an empty stage we thought we’d come up with something new.  “We developed it further and thought that it is much more interesting to have a play where you can literally hear what's going on inside someone’s head.”

People, Watching, cornerHOUSE Community Arts Centre, Tolworth, February 18 to 20, 8pm, £5. Call 020 8399 4346 or visit thecornerhouse.org