Don’t use the F word. James Bolam & Anne Reid tour with Fracked
It proved a gas at Chichester Festival Theatre last year, now the eco-comedy Fracked! Or Please Don’t Use The F Word is taking its green credentials on the road.
Guildford’s Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Jonathan Church Productions and Duncan C Weldon are taking the Chichester hit for a tour of the Tory heartlands from next month with its original stars James Bolam and Anne Reid.
Alistair Beaton’s provocative new comedy (which got a five stars from Stage Review after its Chichester opening bit.ly/29XrCoi) is set in an idyllic English village threatened by an energy company intent on drilling for shale gas.
Anne Reid plays Elizabeth, a retired academic who finds herself transformed from obedient citizen to angry protestor.
While her increasingly grumpy husband (James Bolam) longs for a quiet life, Elizabeth soars to fame via social media.
Desperate to get planning permission, hard-nosed PR men team up with a corrupt local councillor to persuade the villagers that fracking is good.Elizabeth’s having none of it, and mans the barricades.
The razor sharp black comedy takes a timely look at a controversial subject currently affecting thousands of lives around the UK.
Also back for the tour is Michael Simkins (Yes, Prime Minister, Hay Fever). He is joined by Harry Hadden-Paton (Downton Abbey); Waleed Akhtar, Andrea Hart, Sophie Khan Levy, Freddie Meredith, Steven Roberts and Tristram Wymark.
2017 Tour Dates
April 12-22, Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford
April 24-29, Malvern Theatres
May 1-6, Theatre Royal, Brighton
May 8-13, Richmond Theatre
May 15-20, Theatre Royal, Bath
May 22-27, Cambridge Arts Theatre
A fantastic show. Entertaining, intelligent and witty. More shows please!
Wonderful cast, script, sets, not too much politics, jut enough to give it relevance and depth. Surely must move to the West End AND later to T.V.
More venues please!!!!!
This is superbly written and brilliantly acted by James Bolam and Ann Reid. Their understated performances are effortless and hilarious next to the very hyped up character of the PR man – who also has many brilliant lines. It makes fun of those on both sides of the argument, but also lays out the facts for those who don’t know much about it. I wonder, for instance if people know just how close to the truth the dumping of the flow-back in the river is!? I would love to see this tour further, and particularly in the North which is now very directly affected by fracking. This is a wonderful and important piece of topical theatre. If it’s the only thing you see this year you won’t be disappointed! MORE VENUES PLEASE!!!!
Just searched to check the venues and very disappointed to see this “tour” is about as limited geographically as a tour can get and still be defined as a tour*. I thoroughly echo Pauline Jones’ comments. In my case I was hoping to see these great talents at, perhaps, Buxton’s Opera House or Manchester’s Royal Exchange. Any possibility of seeing this tour extended to somewhere north of Watford Gap? I do hope so.
(*well, apart from Peter Kay’s “Tour that Didn’t Tour” I suppose!)
I suspect that the reason for a small tour is the expense. It’s incredibly costly to stage a full length tour and, despite heated opinions about the issue, Fracked deals with a niche subject which wouldn’t appeal to a lot of theatre-goers. Hopefully, if the limited tour goes well, it will return to tour northern venues.
A brilliantly written and acted comedic drama that gets you thinking….thank you , my husband and I thoroughly enjoyed it and talked about it all the way home!
I can see the reason for touring the Tory heartlands where most are completely oblivious and ignorant about fracking. Hopefully this will open their eyes. However, here in the North where we are already affected or threatened, there are still many people who either don’t know or don’t care about the true facts of fracking and are only too happy to believe everything the government and industry tell them.
Would it not be possible to bring this production to the North or at least live stream it to theatres up here? I’m sure it would be a great success.
Kind regards,
Pauline Jones. A resident directly affected by Cuadrilla fracking in the Fylde.