Following the huge success of the audio drama of Polly Creed’s Humane, this timely and lyrical play now comes to our stage.
Francesca Isherwood (The Catherine Tate Show; Casualty; The Worst Witch) and Colette Zacca (Dreaming Whilst Black; Things I Do For Money) will bring to life this world premiere exploring protests and motherhood and how our values can both unite and divide us. This is an urgent story about animal rights prompting us to consider where our food comes from and what activism really means.
25 years after a small group of local people from rural Essex came together to protest the cruel conditions of livestock exports, Humane sheds light on the nearly forgotten story of a small community, their struggle for justice and the unshakeable friendships they made during the Battle of Brightlingsea. In 1995, lorries thundered through a small port town carrying live animals in horrendous conditions and motley crew of grandmothers, housewives and school children took to the streets in a series of demonstrations.
Based on interviews with those on the frontline, this powerful piece unearths how an unlikely group of local women took on an increasingly brutal police presence and the behemoth of the agricultural industry to become remarkable activists.
Written by rising talent Polly Creed, whose work as an activist has been featured by The Guilty Feminist and the Tate, Humane comes as our society is becoming increasingly conscious of welfare and the power of protest.
Polly Creed comments, I grew up in Essex, close to Brightlingsea, and knew some of the people who had been directly involved and was amazed by this extraordinary piece of local history. The more I researched, there emerged layers of issues: the intersection of class, race and gender within activism, policing, and even Brexit. At a time when politics is far from simple this multi-layered, knotty, wriggly story was exactly the kind I wanted to put onstage.
Humane is at The Pleasance Wednesday 3rd – Sunday 21st November 2021.
