Little Revolution, Almeida Theatre

Having proved prime material for new writing in the capital, the London riots of 2011 are once again at the centre of a dramatic work, as Little Revolution opens at the Almeida in August. 

The Playwright...

Following her BBC documentary on the riots, this is the latest project from writer Alecky Blythe. Founder of Recorded Delivery Theatre Company, Blythe uses verbatim theatre, capturing the words used by real people in real situations with her dictaphone and turning them into drama. Nowhere has this been more successful than in her musical London Road. Directed by incoming artistic director Rufus Norris, the show proved an enormous hit for the National Theatre (and is soon to be made into a film), using the words of the residents of London Road Ipswich following the murders of several women in the area in 2006-2008. 

Blythe's success stems from her choice of characters to interview and portray. Her subject matter was not the victims or perpetrator, but the bystanders of the community, struggling to piece together something which has so strongly affected them but in which ultimately they have played no part. A similar technique could work wonders with the London riots, focusing not on those culpable but on those left to pick up the pieces. Blythe's creative involvement does not stop at the script; she also stars in Little Revolution.

The Production...

For Little Revolution Blythe is collaborating with director and Artistic Associate of the Young Vic Joe Hill-Gibbons, with whom she has previously collaborated on The Girlfriend Experience at The Royal Court. After venturing into the classical with Edward II at the National, Hill-Gibbons is back to his new-writing roots. 

The cast includes film, tv and stage star Imogen Stubbs, actress and comedienne Ronni Ancona and Game of Thrones star Lucian Msamati, With the community chorus drawn from the Almeida’s surrounding areas of Islington and Hackney, Little Revolution promises to be a play about London for London and performed by local Londoners.