In Playing Sinatra by Bernard Kops, grown up siblings in Streatham, London, resist their lonely future by idolizing ol' Blue Eyes. Norman can't leave their family nest; his sister, Sandra, knows she must try. Her new friend, Philip, is drawn into their trap to escape his painful past.
The play takes place in the decaying family home that has been shelter to Sandra and Norman since childhood. She toils in an office. He, agoraphobic, works a little from home as a bookbinder. Now middle-aged, they are bonded by promises made to their deceased parents and by their shared, obsessive adoration of Frank Sinatra.
With posters of the crooner on the walls and his records on the sound system, they carry on each evening in a life-avoiding ritual of microwave dinners and fan talk. Their cozy status quo is shattered when Sandra brings home Philip, the "platonic lover of her dreams". Phillip's potential to finally break Sandra out of her long-suffering isolation sends Norman on a desperate scheme to prevent his life from changing, making him dangerous and unpredictable.
The tense, gripping play holds holds the audience tightly as it illuminates the nature of obsession and the strength of family promises, home and the ties that bind.