Earthquakes in London

Published to coincide with its premiere at the Cottosloe, National Theatre, London, in a co-production with Headlong Theatre, directed by Rupert Goold and starring Lia Williams and Bill Patterson: 28 July - 22 September 2010 Mike Barlett's debut, My Child (Royal Court, May 2007) saw him hailed by The Stage as 'one of the most exciting new talents to emerge in recent times' and his latest play Cock won him an Olivier Award for outstanding achievement Earthquakes in London is Mike Bartlett's first big play, signalling a move from short pieces in small studio spaces. Moreover, the likelihood of a subsequent tour promises to take this up and coming playwright's work to a far larger audience

An all-pervasive fear of the future and a guilty pleasure in the excesses of the present drive Mike Bartlett's epic rollercoaster of a play from 1968 to 2525 and back again.It's Cabaret, we've got our heads down and we're dancing and drinking as fast as we can. The enemy is on its way, but this time it doesn't have guns and gas it has storms and earthquakes, fire and brimstone...You were the glimmer. At the end of the tunnel. And you went out. An all-pervasive fear of the future and a guilty pleasure in the excesses of the present drive Mike Bartlett's epic rollercoaster of a play from 1968 to 2525 and back again. Earthquakes in London includes burlesque strip shows, bad dreams, social breakdown, population explosion, worldwide paranoia. It is a fast and furious metropolitan crash of people, scenes and decades, as three sisters attempt to navigate their dislocated lives and loves, while their dysfunctional father, a brilliant scientist, predicts global catastrophe. Mike Bartlett's contemporary and directed dialogue combines a strong sense of humanity with epic ambition, as well as finely-aimed shafts of political comment embedded effortlessly into every scene. Earthquakes in London represents modern playwriting at its most exciting and ambitious.