After the success of A Walk On Part, their first co-production, Newcastle's Live Theatre and the Soho Theatre are now co-operating to produce Utopia which opens at Live on 31st May.
Artistic Directors Max Roberts (Live) and Steve Marmion (Soho) have spent the last four months commissioning a number of established and emerging writers to offer their vision of humanity at its best.
As Max Roberts explains, "In 1516 Sir Thomas More wrote Utopia a tale about a fictional island society and its religious, social and political customs. Utopia was described as a perfected society that was considered to be ultimately unachievable. This idea of a perfect society seemed to be a fitting follow up to A Walk on Part and a chance for writers to share their views on what this new world might look like."
Nine writers were invited by both theatre companies to submit their ideas. The final pieces will be combined to create a feel good evening of new writing that will challenge our visions of the future. Utopia aims to be a night of humanity at its best, looking at a different vision of our future, a vision of humankind being both human and kind.
From spaceships and retirement homes, to political rallies and Facebook, the writing team behind this production, the publicity material tells us, have left no stone unturned in their collaborative quest for paradise. Writers include Michael Chaplin (A Walk on Part), Zoe Cooper (Nativities), Thomas Eccleshare (Pastoral), Alistair McDowall (Captain Amazing, presented as part of FUSES), Dylan Moran (Black Books), Anthony Neilson (Realism), Janice Okoh (Egusi Soup), Simon Stephens (Three Kingdoms) and Chi Onwurah, MP for Newcastle Central. With additional material from the works of Sir Thomas More, William Shakespeare, Adolf Hitler and many more Utopia is an unconventional medley of visions that will leave the audience questioning our present and leaving hopeful for our future.
Directed by Roberts and Marmion, Utopia runs at Live Theatre from 31st May to 16th June and then transfers to the Soho from 20th June to 14th July.