News Release 1 Nov 2021
A climate catastrophe satire that was developed with audiences in Bath hits the London stage this month (November). The New Wimbledon Theatre, run by Ambassadors Theatre Group, opens Gill Kirk’s dark-green dystopian horror-comedy SKIN IN THE GAME on the very day that COP26 ends in Glasgow.
Chosen by New Wimbledon Theatre as one of its inaugural Premieres Season shows, the show was enjoyed by Bath theatre-lovers as a “script in hand” just two weeks before March ’20’s lockdown. The audience at Bath’s Rondo, a venue that champions new writing, described the show as “terrifyingly watchable”, “dark, dirty, weird and funny,” while one even said, “it made my stomach drop with horror.”
Mixing ‘Cards Against Humanity’-style humour with ‘Squid Game’-level consequences, the show asks everyone what we can do to stop a disaster right here, right now.
Working with producers Slackline Productions, Gill and the cast are now crowdfunding to help cover the costs of this five-actor, small-scale show, to get cast and creatives paid fairly. Theatre economics for small venues and short runs are hard at any time, and especially now. Anyone who’d like to support the show and its aim to get climate engagement to a wider audience can make a pledge here: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/skin-in-the-game.
Starring Kristin Duffy, Craig Talbot, Ed Theakston, Eden Avital Alexander and Nick Biadon, this very dark comedy depicts a Britain 30 years from today. Today’s 10-years olds are 40 and have become parents themselves. The show opens as “man of the people”, Danny McCree, a “national treasure” TV host entertains the masses on our one remaining TV channel, while floods and mudslides ravage our remaining towns and cities. The BBC is long-gone and the Great Britain of 2021 has been replaced by mudslides, food silos, mercenaries, and curfews. When former BBC documentary reporter Elizabeth Smuir, discovers Danny has dark political ambitions, she vows to take him down in an old-style news exposé. But neither of them has taken account of the sheer — and in Skin in the Game’s case, downright bizarre — power of the environment to ruin their plans. After all, what do humans know about nature?
Gill Kirk’s no stranger to the corridors of power, working for decades in Westminster and Whitehall. But it was a Highland trip to Pitlochry that got her thinking deeply about the climate and then she couldn’t stop:“I get quite scared when I think about it now. I noticed I was turning away rather than looking too closely. Isn’t that what many of us have done? Most of the horror in the show is already happening somewhere. Far faster than anyone thought it would.”
New Wimbledon Theatre’s Premieres Season was originally scheduled for Autumn 2020. The Season has been curated by NWT’s Emma Brack, whose goal it was to champion fresh and fierce new voices:“We believe it is important to provide a platform for new works to be staged, theatre isn’t just about revitalising the classics after all! It’s been over a year-and-a-half since we opened up for submissions, and after months of delays, we can’t wait to show audiences what these fascinating new plays are all about.”
Skin in the Game is directed by Sarah Gain and produced by Kristin Duffy of Slackline Productions, with movement direction by Jennifer Kay.
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS:
- Show dates Friday 12 Nov – Friday 19 Nov 2021 (Mon – Fri 19:45, Sat 14:45 and 19:45). Press night 15th November.
- Studio at New Wimbledon Theatre: 93 The Broadway, Wimbledon, London SW19 1QG
- Further info & tickets: https://www.atgtickets.com/shows/skin-in-the-game/studio-at-new-wimbledon-theatre/
- For interview requests, production photos or more information, contact Kristin Duffy on 07957208280 or kristin@slacklineproductions.co.uk.
Bios:
Playwright Gill Kirk is a theatre, film and TV writer. A graduate of Channel 4’s 4 Screenwriting, her credits include Glitter Knickers and Water’s Not So Thick (Rondo Theatre, Bath), Passion (VAULT Festival and Aberdeen Dance Live), A Bit of Song & Dance (Ustinov, Tobacco Factory Theatre). She received a writer’s residency and development support from Pitlochry Festival Theatre to develop Skin in the Game. It is also supported by The Society of Authors and the Peggy Ramsey Foundation.
Sarah Gain, Director has worked across theatre for 30+ years and is Creative Producer at Sarah Gain Productions. Credits include the creation of Emperor’s New Clothes written by Morgan Lloyd Malcolm and Mrs Scrooge, currently supported by the Arts Council UK and written by Hannah Khalil. Director credits include a UK regional theatre tour of’Death and The Maiden’ for Baroque Theatre Company and ‘Sing A Long with Frozen’ for Disney’s Summer Festival in Tel Aviv, Israel. Her work is focused on making theatre & creativity accessible.
Kristin Duffy, Producer is founder and Creative Producer at Slackline Productions. Slackline Productions works with female writers to offer new-writing plays that have female characters at their heart, focusing most specifically on stories of women aged 35+. Credits include Off Fest-nominated The Werewolf of Washington Heights (The Cockpit), and Slackline’s own new-writing nights (Southwark Playhouse).
Jennifer Kay, Movement Director Jennifer is a Northern based movement director & Arts Council supported theatre maker. Movement directing credits include Becoming Berenice (Voila! Europe Festival 2018, London), The Flies (Exchange Theatre, The Bunker), Quest for Stolen Beauty (Launchpad19, Sheffield Theatres), My Night with Reg (Green Carnation Theatre Company, The Lowry, Manchester), 13 (ALRA North 3rd years), and 10 Nights (The Bush/Tamasha/Graeae).
Mat Davies, Graphic Animator is Event Coordinator for the Walt Disney Company, working on Disney events all over the world. He creates design and animation of graphics for Disney Integrated Marketing Events for live and online events and is behind the marketing and events for West London Queer Project.
Gill Kirk, scriptwriter 