Writers from across the globe, including David Greig and Neil LaBute, have created 16 new plays that will be presented at the Young Vic in response to political and economic challenges around the world.
Greig’s piece about Naked Rambler Stephen Gough and LaBute’s exploring the Occupy movement will sit alongside pieces by other playwrights from Syria, Spain, Greece, Iceland and the UK, covering topics ranging from activists in the Middle East to library closures in the UK.
The season, which runs from 13 to 17 November at the Waterloo venue, is the flagship event of Theatre Uncut’s international week of action, which runs from 12 to 18 November, when all of the plays will be available to download and perform worldwide.
Speaking about the season, Emma Callander, Co-Artistic Director of Theatre Uncut said: “Theatre Uncut was created to raise debate and galvanise action around political issues that affect all of our lives. We do this by making our plays available to as many people as possible. We feel honoured to be working with writers of such high calibre and it thrills me that performances of these powerful short plays will be happening simultaneously across the world, from Scarborough to Syria. With the continued cuts to public services in the UK, on a landscape of civil unrest and enforced austerity across the world, the need to speak out in resistance is stronger now than ever before.”
Theatre Uncut will run in the Young Vic’s Clare theatre after Fireface, which opens this week. Marius von Mayenburg’s tale of siblings with a nasty secret is directed by Sam Pritchard, winner of the 2012 JMK Award.