ETT (English Touring Theatre) has announced its Winter season with the London run of Museum of Austerity, a powerful mixed reality installation exploring the human cost of austerity.
The production runs from 5 December 2025 to 16 January 2026 at the Young Vic Theatre in The Maria Theatre, with press performances beginning from Monday 8 December.
Directed and co-edited by Sacha Wares, founder of Trial and Error Studio, alongside specialist advisor and co-editor John Pring, Museum of Austerity is an ETT, Trial and Error Studio, and National Theatre co-production, presented in association with the Young Vic and supported by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
Blending theatre, documentary, and extended reality, the production invites audiences into a striking holographic gallery that confronts the real-world consequences of austerity and systemic welfare failure in the UK.
Sacha Wares said, “Museum of Austerity is the result of many years’ research and collaboration with families across the nation. Audiences who have already seen Museum of Austerity when it travelled on tour recognise all too well the impact on their lives of decisions made far away in London. We hope, presenting the Museum of Austerity at the Young Vic, just a mile from Westminster, will bring home the relationship between the stories told in our museum and decisions made just across the river.”
John Pring added, “The timing could not be better for Museum of Austerity to be coming to a London theatre for the first time. Government cuts and reforms are again threatening to expose claimants to the kind of harm that led to so many deaths in the austerity years.
Most people do not come out of Museum of Austerity unaffected, thanks to the incredible work of the creative and technical team behind it who tell the awful stories of those who died in such a powerful and innovative way. But I particularly hope that those visiting the exhibition will come out realising that no-one – ever – has been held accountable for these deaths.”
Richard Twyman and Sophie Scull of ETT said, “We are honoured to be bringing Museum of Austerity to the Young Vic as part of Nadia Fall’s inaugural season and following a UK and international tour. The dedication and hard work of the artists at the centre of Museum of Austerity, particularly co-creators Sacha Wares and John Pring, continues to inspire us, and we are so grateful to them and to the families whose stories are told through the piece for their commitment to the project. We want to extend our thanks to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation without whom this moment wouldn’t be possible.”
Following its acclaimed debut at the London Film Festival, Museum of Austerity won Best Immersive Production at the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam and has toured to Manchester, Newcastle, Bristol and Hamburg.
The cast includes Shango Baku, Jenny Bolt, S.J. O’Kane, Gerard McDermott, Katie Matsell, Lindy Pieri, Elliot Pritchard, and Naima Swaleh.
Creative credits include composer Adrian Lee, costume and installation designer Miriam Buether, sound designer Gareth Fry, and movement director Leon Baugh. Mixed reality installation is by All Seeing Eye, with lighting by Prema Mehta and Rob Pell-Walpole, and volumetric capture by Dimension Studio.
Museum of Austerity is more than an exhibition; it’s a blend of theatre, history and humanity. A place to reflect on the past, and confront the future.
Listings and ticket information can be found here.
