bush theatre

HighTide Festival Theatre and Lucy Jackson Productions present Mudlarks in association with the Bush Theatre

"Stunning...unforgettable", **** The Times

"This exhilarating three-hander ... a drama played with real vigour and subtlety by its young cast” Lyn Gardner, The Guardian.

"Tension which keeps us fully focussed from beginning to end ... remarkably assured in the writing, the production and the acting " ***** What’s On Stage

The water looks sort of angry, don’t it? Racing across the mud. Like it’s coming for us! Haven’t got long. We have to move soon.

On the muddy banks of the River Thames, downstream from the bright lights of London, three boys hide from the police after a night of thrilling recklessness. Over the course of the freezing night their fears, secrets and dreams emerge, collide and combust revealing the desperate frustration of lives barely led but already ravaged.

Essex-born Vickie Donoghue’s powerful debut exposes the culture she grew up with and sees on a daily basis. With brutal honesty interspersed with flashes of humour she explores how the impulse to dream is futile in the context of a reality that has no space for dreamers. A sell-out show at Theatre503 and HighTide Festival, Mudlarks heralds the arrival of an urgent new voice in British theatre. 

Age guide 14 +

Photograph by Alexander Henderson