Paines Plough has announced a major new production, After Party by Morna Young, co-produced with the Traverse Theatre and Belgrade Theatre.
Directed by Paines Plough’s Joint Artistic Director Katie Posner, the new play will premiere at the Traverse Theatre from 6 to 30 August 2026, following preview performances at Belgrade Theatre in Coventry from 30 July to 1 August.
The production will then return to the Belgrade Theatre for a further run from 9 to 12 September.
After Party is described as an unflinching and darkly humorous exploration of autonomy, family and life-defining choices.
The story unfolds on the night of celebrated actress Vivienne Blackwood’s 80th birthday, as she gathers her family for what appears to be a joyful evening.
As tensions rise and long-hidden truths emerge, the gathering quickly unravels into a charged and revealing confrontation.
Katie Posner said: “I was instantly gripped when I first read After Party. It’s a family so full of hilarity and heartbreak, with a magnetic personality at its very centre. Viv is a dazzling, complex, mischievous, devastating and charming woman, determined to make her own choices in life and in death. Having had the opportunity to explore the play with Morna, I’m so delighted that we get to bring it to the stage together. It’s a story that beautifully probes that grand unanswerable question of how we say goodbye, and I can’t wait to see this fractured family in all its glory at our brilliant partner venues, the Traverse in Edinburgh and the Belgrade in Coventry, this year.”
The play is written by award-winning playwright Morna Young, whose previous work includes Lost at Sea and Never Land, and who has received a Peggy Ramsay/Film4 Award and multiple Critics’ Awards for Scotland.
The announcement follows recent news that Paines Plough has been awarded £750,000 from the Creative Foundations Fund to renovate its touring venue, Roundabout.
Listings and ticket information can be found here.
