‘ … a timeless and powerful play … ‘
Protect and Survive at Sweet St. Andrews, as part of the Brighton Fringe Festival.
It’s hard now to imagine that in the Eighties we faced the daily prospect of nuclear war. Jonathan Williamson’s compelling play is a realistic reminder of ‘what if’ as those now in power bring us closer to the brink once again.
The play is set in the confined space of a recording studio, where a documentary radio drama is being made about the Government war game ‘Exercise Hot Seat’, in which a handful of councillors are locked in a bunker, waiting for the radio-active survivors outside to die before opening the food banks.
A skilled ensemble of actors playing actors record inane Government advice such as the claim that a mattress is all you need to protect you from a nuclear explosion.
The production continues to draw you in, as the characters reflect on their own lives and the zero chance of survival in the aftermath of nuclear war. The play also provides a stomach-churning description of what it would be like to be dying from radiation sickness under martial law.
‘Protect and Survive’ is a timeless and powerful play warning of the complacency of the modern nuclear age, by presenting us with both a window to the past and an all-too-possible future.
Matt Merritt
Protect and Survive
Writer: Jonathan Williamson
Featuring: Tigger Blaize, Philippa Hammond, Justin K Hayward, Jack Kristiansen, Penny Scott-Andrews, Amy Sutton.
Production Company: TBC Audio
Producer: Simon Moorhead
Director: Thomas Everchild