Through the ten short plays of The Bomb – A Partial History, the Tricycle theatre explores the history of nuclear armament from 1940 to the present day.

Playwrights Lee Blessing, Ryan Craig, John Donnelly, David Greig, Amit Gupta, Zinnie Harris, Ron Hutchinson, Diana Son and Colin Teevan have been tasked with creating a response to one aspect of this world-changing history.

The two parts of The Bomb – A Partial History are titled First Blast: Proliferation and Second Blast: Present Dangers.

First Blast: Proliferation – It is the first year of World War II, and in Whitehall two émigré Jewish scientists are waiting for a meeting to get the British establishment to take their nuclear research seriously. The following plays then trace the history of the Labour party wrestling with the decision to build the Atomic Bomb, China’s war with India and the subsequent development of India’s bomb, the break-up of the Soviet Union and the unilateral disarmament of Ukraine.

Second Blast: Present Dangers – A contemporary take on the non-proliferation debate looking at Israel and Iran’s nuclear capability, the  “axis of evil” speech and its affect on North Korea, the U.K.’s continuing reliance on Trident in the post  Cold War era, through to the current negotiations with Iran and weapons inspections there.

The Bomb – A Partial History plays as part of the The Tricycle Goes Nuclear festival, which also includes films, talks, discussions, an education programme and exhibitions.