Edinburgh Festival Fringe hit, It’s the Economy, Stupid!, is hitting the road for its second UK tour from February 2025. Developed with, and directed by, internationally acclaimed Katharina Reinthaller, the magical and witty production tells the true story of a family caught up in a recession, impacted by the economic conditions that led the world from post-war boom to housing and cost-of-living crises.
Using an old board game, projection-mapping and a sprinkle of magic, Joe Sellman-Leava and Dylan Howells explore how macroeconomic forces can dominate personal lives. In presenting the deeply personal story of Joe’s family losing their home and livelihood during the recession in the early 90s, It’s the Economy, Stupid! aims to make economics both accessible and entertaining. The show expertly uses the metaphor of a game of Monopoly to deliver its ethical points, demonstrating the effects on Sellman-Leava’s early family life as underpinned by the housing and cost-of-living crises many of us are too familiar with today.
Named after the phrase coined by James Carville, a strategist for Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign, It’s the Economy, Stupid! employs storytelling to uncover the true cost of low financial literacy in a world dominated by money.
Joe Sellman-Leava comments, We did our very best to make the dry topic of economics moving, magical and at times even funny! We loved touring IT’S THE ECONOMY STUPID last year and are thrilled to be back on the road in 2025. With our economy and our politics still volatile, and the interlinked crises of housing, climate, cost-of-living and inequality still rampant, we really hope our story can shed a bit of light and laughter on this complex, thorny subject.
