China Plate and Staatstheater Mainz present
A Family Business
A show about how not to blow up the planet.
“It’s empowerment, not fear, that Thorpe seeks to give the audience… It is engaging, in some ways mind-blowing… delivered with passion and wit, an understanding of the local landscape, and extremely well-explained details and facts.”
(Luxembourg Times)
“If you don’t know the work of Manchester-based playwright Chris Thorpe, you should, because he is one of the UK’s most thoughtful theatre-makers, tackling subjects and issues that others shy away from.”
(Lyn Gardner, Stagedoor)
A show about how not to blow up the planet.
Award-winning theatre-maker Chris Thorpe and director Rachel Chavkin reunite for A Family Business, a powerful production that focusses on the human story of the struggle for nuclear disarmament, and the group of people whose business it is to try to stop us from blowing up the planet.
Based on conversations with activists, academics and diplomats, this timely piece of theatre from China Plate and Staatstheater Mainz, about ordinary people who make extraordinarily important decisions, examines what qualifies a person to speak on behalf of huge parts of the global population – and asks why we don’t really talk about nuclear weapons much, even though they accompany us everywhere.
In partnership with Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg. Supported by Warwick Arts Centre and using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.
Hear from the creatives and experts behind A Family Business and access fantastic resources about theatremaking, activism, and nuclear disarmament by clicking on the link below.
China Plate is a theatre producing studio based in Birmingham and working across the UK. As an arts charity, they help people to make creative projects happen – from theatre shows, to audio anthologies, to bus stop galleries. Their mission is to develop a new model of creating and producing theatre that opens up the way performance is made, who makes it and who it’s experienced by. They have recently made work with Caroline Horton, Inspector Sands, David Edgar, Chris Thorpe, Rachel Chavkin, Rachel Bagshaw, Urielle Klein-Mekongo, Roy Williams, Chris Haydon, April De Angelis, Lucy Rivers, Tim Sutton, Casey Bailey and BBC iPlayer. They are resident Associate Producers at Warwick Arts Centre and partners in Derby CAN, Derby Theatre’s Arts Council England Producing Hub.
Chris Thorpe is an award-winning writer and performer and Associate Artist at the Royal Exchange, Manchester – work for them includes There Has Possibly Been an Incident and The Mysteries. Other theatre work includes Victory Condition and The Milk of Human Kindness for the Royal Court, Chorus for the Gate Theatre and Hannah, Beowolf and one of Aesop’s Fables for the Unicorn. He regularly collaborates with Lucy Ellinson (Tory-core), Portugal’s mala voadora (Overdrama/House-Garden/Dead End/Your Best Guest), Hannah Jane Walker (The Oh Fuck Moment/I Wish I Was Lonely) and Rachel Bagshaw for The Shape of The Pain, recently adapted for the BBC as part of their Culture In Quarantine series. His short film for the Royal Court and the Financial Times about the climate crisis, What Do You Want Me to Say? was released in September 2019. Awards include multiple Fringe, the Premio Franco Enriquez 2018; and selection for Berlin Theatertreffen’s Stuckemarkt for There Has Possibly Been an Incident. Current work includes Talking About The Fire, also about nuclear weapons policy, with China Plate, Staatstheater Mainz and Les Théâ tres de la Ville de Luxembourg, and Always Maybe The Last Time, about the psychology of the climate crisis, for the Royal Court.
Cast
Performer (James): Greg Barnett
Performer (Layla): Efé Agwele
Performer (Véronique): Andrea Quirbach
Performer (himself): Chris Thrope
Creative Team
Writer and Performer: Chris Thorpe
Developed with Rachel Chavkin and Lekan Lawal
Director: Claire O’Reilly
Dramaturg: Rachel Chavkin & Jörg Vorhaben
Casting Director: Christopher Worrall
Designer and Costume Designer: Eleanor Field
Sound Designer: Anna Clock
Lighting and Video Designer: Arnim Friess
Production Manager: Rob Athorn
Assistant Director on Production: Tim Schmultzer
Barnfield TheatreThis show contains strong language, themes of nuclear warfare, flashing lights and smoke.
