“an uncompromising voice in the world of political theatre, ever inventive and always remaining ahead of the curve.”
Syrus Lowe in Fragile by David Grieg
Phil Jupitus in London 2012: Glasgow by Kieran Hurley
Denise Gough in Blondie by Hayley Squires
Theatre Uncut creates bold, progressive, uncompromising political theatre. The company is untethered from traditional forms so it can examine what theatre is and what art can achieve.
Created in 2011 in response to the cuts in public spending Theatre Uncut galvanises action, raises awareness and fuels debate by creating political new writing and making it available for everyone, everywhere.
Each year we work with both the world’s leading writers and extraordinary new voices to create trailblazing work that examines the world we live in today and make this available for anyone to perform anywhere. So far we have commissioned over 57 playwrights from 14 countries to create responsive work which has been performed in 32 countries across 4 continents.
We have produced our own work at the Young Vic, Traverse Theatre and the Southwark Playhouse and have toured across the UK. We have created work in collaboration with DOT Tiyatro in Istanbul, Turkey and Teater GROB in Copenhagen Denmark and performed on Theater Row in New York City supported by the Carol Tambor Foundation. We have won two Fringe First Awards, the Herald Angel Award and the Spirit of the Fringe. After every performance of our work we hold a post show discussion, allowing the audience to add their own voices to the debate.
In 2018 the Theatre Uncut Political Playwriting Award was created to discover the political playwrights of the future.
Theatre Uncut was established by Hannah Price in 2011, in response to the public spending cuts announced by the then UK coalition government. Hannah was concerned about the effect the cuts were going to have on the most vulnerable in UK society. With the help of Mark Ravenhill and David Greig, she brought together 8 of the UK’s most dynamic playwrights to create short plays in response to the cuts: Clara Brennan, David Greig, Dennis Kelly, Lucy Kirkwood, Laura Lomas, Anders Lustgarten, Jack Thorne and Mark Ravenhill.
Over 90 groups across the world took these plays and made them their own, performing across the UK and abroad. The week after the event finished hundreds of Theatre Uncutters took part in demonstrations and marched on Whitehall in protest against the cuts.
Emma Callander joined Theatre Uncut as a participant in 2011, directing the original plays at the Bristol Old Vic and the Arches in Glasgow. In 2012 she joined the company as Co-Artistic Director and in 2021 became Artistic Director when Hannah left the company to lead the Kings Head Theatre in London with Mark Ravenhill.
Visit the Mass Participation Map to see all of the events that have been held worldwide so far.
We strive to attract audiences who want to be challenged and actively seek to engage in the world around them.
Zawe Ashton in House Keeping by Lucy Kirkwood
Lesley Hart and John Bett in Dalgety by David Grieg
Felicity Montagu in Hi Vis by Clara Brennan
THEATRE UNCUT HAS:
commissioned 57 short plays
by 53 writers
36 based in the UK
and 14 international writers
from 8 countries
commissioned 2 provocations to devise new work from
and supported the work of 8 emerging companies
we have also created 3 international collaborations with companies in Ireland, Turkey and Denmark
Theatre Uncut productions have been performed at 10 venues across the UK
and 3 international venues