Writer and theatre maker Javaad Alipoor presents his 2017 Scotsman Fringe First Award-winning play The Believers Are But Brothers at the Bush Theatre from 24 January. This morning the shows’ use of WhatsApp live group chat, putting technology at the core of the performance, has been shortlisted for The Stage newspaper’s Innovation Award.
We live in a time where old orders are collapsing: from the postcolonial nation states of the Middle East, to the EU and the American election. Through it all, tech savvy and extremist groups rip up political certainties.
Amidst this, a generation of young men find themselves burning with resentment, without the money, power and sex they think they deserve. This crisis of masculinity leads them into an online world where fantasy, violence and reality collide.
The Believers Are But Brothers envelops its audience in this digital realm, exploring the blurry and complex world of extremists, journalists and fantasists in an electronic maze of meme culture, 4chan, the alt-right and ISIS.  This bold one-man show weaves together their stories to reveal a vast web of resentment, violence and power just one click away.
Writer and performer, Javaad Alipoor, said ‘I’m really proud and excited to be bringing this show to the Bush, where it will sit within a season that reflects on the issues and voices shaping contemporary Britain. It means a great deal to me to present my work at a theatre that is one of the historic engines of new writing in the UK, where a commitment to diversity goes beyond representation or deficit, and is so central to the amazing work that is being presented and made there.’
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As part of the performance, audiences will be invited to join a WhatsApp group for the show. This is optional but will enhance the experience. (After each show, the WhatsApp group if cleared and phone numbers deleted from the phones used by Front of House).
Both a Resident Associate Director at Sheffield Theatres, and Artistic Director of Northern Lines, Javaad Alipoor’s work comes from discussions and workshops with communities that don’t usually engage with mainstream theatre. His previous work includes Orgreave: An English Civil War, about the Miners’ Strike and the Arab Spring and My Brother’s Country – about murdered Iranian pop icon Fereydoun Farrokhzad.
The Believers Are But Brothers is at Bush Theatre 24th January – 10th February.
