Comedian Dylan Moran, Olivier Award-winner Simon Stephens and controversial writer Anthony Neilson have been announced as three of the nine playwrights to collaborate on Soho theatre’s forthcoming production and unique writing project Utopia.
A new artistic collaboration between Soho theatre and Newcastle’s Live Theatre, Utopia will play in London from 20 June following a run in the Newcastle venue, and features nine short plays looking at a different vision of our future, one that throws away dystopian ideas and instead looks at a humankind that is both human and kind.
Joining Perrier Award winner Moran, Stephens (Three Kingdoms, Pornography) and Neilson (Realism, The Lying Kind) in the writing team are Michael Chaplin, the writer of Soho theatre’s recent hit and collaboration with Live Theatre, A Walk On Part, Royal Court Young Writers Programme graduate Zoe Cooper, Soho theatre’s resident playwright Thomas Eccleshare, founder of Cheap Seats Theatre Company Alistair McDowall, Janice Okoh, whose play Egusi Soup will play at the Soho theatre later in the year, and Newcastle Central’s MP Chi Onwurah.
From spaceships and retirement homes to political rallies and Facebook, the eclectic team of writers have left no stone unturned in their collaborative quest for paradise. The plays also include material from an equally eclectic mix of works from Thomas Moore, William Shakespeare and Adolf Hitler.
Continuing the collaborative spirit, Utopia will be co-directed by Artistic Directors Steve Marmion (Soho theatre) and Max Roberts (Live theatre).