Earthquakes in London

Mike Bartlett

• Publisher: Methuen Drama
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN:
  9781350138803
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781350138827
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: British Drama
• Index: Literature

It's Cabaret, we've got our heads down and we're dancing and drinking as fast as we can. The enemy is on its way, but this time it doesn't have guns and gas it has storms and earthquakes, fire and brimstone.... You were the glimmer. At the end of the tunnel. And you went out.

Earthquakes in London is a fast and furious metropolitan crash of people, scenes and decades, as three sisters attempt to navigate their dislocated lives and loves, while their dysfunctional father, a brilliant scientist, predicts global catastrophe. The play deals, through amplified theatricality, with a range of contemporary issues from population growth to climate change.

An all-pervasive fear of the future and a guilty pleasure in the excesses of the present drive Mike Bartlett's epic rollercoaster of a play from 1968 to 2525 and back again.

Earthquakes in London first published in 2010 and has subsequently become a much-produced and widely studied drama text. It is published here as a Student Edition alongside commentary and notes by Bridget Escolme.

The ancillary material is geared at students and includes:

- an introduction outlining the play's plot, character, themes context and performance history
- the full text of the play
- a chronology of the playwright's life and work
- extensive textual notes
- questions for further study
- an interview with the playwright

Earthquakes in London

Earthquakes in London was first performed in the Cottesloe Theatre at the National Theatre on 4 August 2010, in a co-production with Headlong Theatre. The cast was as follows:

Marina	Lucy May Barker
Tom	Gary Carr
Young Robert	Brian Ferguson
Grace / Receptionist / Jogger	Polly Frame
Simon / Roy	Tom Godwin
Colin	Tom Goodman-Hill
Carter	Michael Gould
Peter	Bryony Hannah
Businessman / Daniel / Student / Doctor Harris / Barman	Clive Hayward
Mrs Andrews	Anne Lacey
Supermarket Worker / Young Man / Tim	Syrus Lowe
Freya	Anna Madeley
Robert	Bill Paterson
Jasmine	Jessica Raine
Casey / Old Woman / Sally / Liberty	Maggie Service
Steve	Geoffrey Streatfeild
Sarah	Lia Williams

Director	Rupert Goold
Set Designer	Miriam Buether
Costume Designer	Katrina Lindsay
Lighting Designer	Howard Harrison
Music	Alex Baranowski
Projection Designer	Jon Driscoll
Choreographer	Scott Ambler
Sound Designer	Gregory Clarke
Company Voice Work	Jeannette Nelson
Project developed for Headlong	by Ben Power

Act One
Proper Coffee

Act Two
All The Mothers

Act Three
Mad Bitch

Act Four
Thomas Hood

Act Five
Certain Destruction

The play is presented using as much set, props and costume as possible. The stage should overflow with scenery, sound, backdrops, lighting, projection, etc. Everything is represented. It is too much. The play is about excess, and we should feel that.

Scenes crash into each other impolitely. They overflow, overlap. The production should always seem at risk of descending into chaos but never actually do so.

( / ) means the next speech begins at that point

( – ) means the next line interrupts

( . . . ) at the end of a speech means it trails off. On its own it indicates a pressure, expectation or desire to speak.

A line with no full stop at the end indicates that the next speech follows on immediately.

A speech with no written dialogue indicates a character deliberately remaining silent.

Blank space between speeches in the dialogue indicates a silence equal to the length of the space.

Characters

Grace

Freya

Steve

Jasmine

Tom

Colin

Sarah

Simon

Supermarket Worker

Peter

Attendant

Businessman

Robert

Mrs Andrews

Many Students

Many Swimmers

Carter

Daniel

Roy

Young Man

Fifteen Mothers with pushchairs

Old Woman

Second World War Officer

Receptionist

Tim

Maryna

Liberty

Emily

Usher

Police Officer

Commuters

Passer by 1

Passer by 2

Other passers by

Doctor Harris

Nurse

Act One

Prologue

1968

Cambridge.

Bla...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title
• Title
• Contents
• Chronology
• Epic and Intimate: Mike Bartlett’s Political Theatre
• EARTHQUAKES IN LONDON
• Notes
• Copyright