Underground Railroad Game, Soho Theatre

The enduring legacy of slavery in the US has never been a hotter topic, with plays like An Octoroon examining how much exactly has changed in the century and a half since Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.

Underground Railroad Game, landing at the Soho Theatre this September after a sell-out run at the Edinburgh Fringe, tackles the same theme through a fresh, surprising premise. Two school teachers (played by Jennifer Kidwell and Scott R Sheppard), one a black woman, the other a white man, are trying to introduce their ten-year-old pupils – that’s us, the audience – to the American Civil War. But have they bitten off more than they can chew?

The ‘game’ of the title is also unexpected – the students/audience are split into Confederacy and Union, and tasked either with smuggling slaves (represented by dolls) from classroom to classroom, or preventing their escape. A chance to reaffirm or rewrite history, as the teachers announce. Amazingly, this aspect of the show is based on a real educational game that Sheppard experienced as a child – let’s just hope it didn’t descend into the half-naked, blood-streaked chaos into which Underground Railroad Game soon spirals.

Accuracy to life aside, the show has been lauded as ‘wayward, unsettling and troublingly funny’, and was named as one of The New York Times’ 25 best new American plays of the last 25 years. It looks set to be just as successful down south as it has been at the Fringe — so snap up tickets while you can.