Rid The World Comes to Lowry and Liverpool

A new theatre production co-written by Manchester-born Trevor Griffiths, author of the modern classic Comedians, comes to The Lowry Studio and Liverpool’s Unity theatre this March.

It is 1911 and Britain is on the brink of social change. Political activist Tom Mann comes to Liverpool to lead a strike that will transform both the city and its people. Seen from the perspective of today’s economic, political and social unrest Rid The World is a prophetic and timely reflection on the events of 100 years ago when there were gunboats up the Mersey and ordinary people stood as one to face odds that were surely stacked against them.

Oscar-nominated Trevor Griffiths is one of the country’s leading dramatists whose work has explored the political and social landscape of Britain for four decades in stage, television and cinema. His stage play The Party gave Laurence Olivier his final stage appearance at The National Theatre; his seminal 1970s television series Bill Brand followed an idealistic socialist MP just before the arrival of Thatcherism; and Comedians, recently revived to huge success in both London and Bolton, is considered to be one of the most significant  stage plays ever produced by a British writer.

Rid The World has been adapted by Manchester-based writer Rob Johnston from Griffiths’ original screenplay Such Impossibilities and is brought to the stage by a cast of seven under Liverpool director Ed Barrett in this Arts Council supported production. Johnston’s work has been staged at The Soho and Hampstead Theatres in London, Buxton, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and The Lowry, Royal Exchange and Library Theatres locally, plus three appearances at The 24-7 Manchester Theatre Festival.

Rid The World runs from 10 – 11 February at the Lowry and 17 – 19 March at the Unity in Liverpool.