Frantic Assembly’s The Unreturning explores the profound effect that war has on young lives and asks: what does coming home really mean?

Telling the interwoven stories of three men coming home from war, this new work by Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting winner Anna Jordan will be directed by Frantic Assembly associate director Neil Bettles, and marks the 10th anniversary of Frantic Assembly’s award-winning Ignition training programme.

A British northern coastal town. Three young men are coming home from war. Their stories, set at different times over the last 100 years, are beautifully interwoven in this compelling new play featuring Frantic’s celebrated physicality.

The Unreturning questions: what does coming home really mean? What is home? And when experience has shattered you into a million pieces, will home help to put you together again, or treat you as an ugly truth it does not want to confront?

Ignition, which celebrates its tenth anniversary this year, is Frantic Assembly’s free, national training programme for young men aged 16-20. The programme seeks out talent in unexpected places, from sports groups to youth centres, and is committed to helping young men find their individual and collective strength. No experience of the arts is necessary to participate. All four members of the cast for The Unreturning were part of the Ignition programme before they went on to train professionally and pursue acting careers.