"Powerful. Important. Moving." Ben Jamal (Palestine Solidarity Campaign)
CUTTING THE TIGHTROPE: The Divorce of Politics from Art is a new collection of urgent political short plays prompted by theatre's and society's silence over the genocide in Gaza. Written by a diverse group of award-winning playwrights, we sold-out a pilot rapid response run at the Arcola in Studio 2 earlier this year in May.
"The courage of the pieces are infectious. We left the theatre fired up for the fight.“ Dame Harriet Walter (DBE, Actor)
"Brilliantly engaging and urgent. Surprisingly funny, poignant and challenging." Mark Thomas (Political Comedian)
"A reminder that theatre can so often humanise those events unfolding before us in the world that journalism and reportage can’t convey.” Juliet Stevenson (CBE, Actor)
"Humour, pain, and the unspeakable truth...Like Greek comedies, this is a theatre of truth and we should be thankful for its existence." Haim Bresheeth (Israeli filmmaker)
★★★★★ “One of the most powerful things I have ever watched” Green Room Review
WHAT IS CUTTING THE TIGHTROPE ABOUT?
We are living through a moment of horror. Brutality abroad in Palestine and the Global South is justified or ignored by our own government, while new police powers suppress protest at home. Globally far-right movements are growing and so too are Defence budgets. There is much to talk about.
But, readings, exhibitions, and shows are being cancelled at major arts venues. And then even the Arts Council started warning that ‘political statements’ made by individuals linked to an organisation can cause ‘reputational risk’, breaching funding agreements. Some are silenced and some are now unwilling to speak.
Cutting the Tightrope: the divorce of Politics from Arts responds to this creeping threat to our freedom of expression and includes playwrights Hassan Abdulrazzak, Mojisola Adebayo, Phil Arditti, Sonali Bhattacharyya, Nina Bowers, Roxy Cook, Ed Edwards, Afsaneh Gray, Dawn King, Ahmed Masoud and Sami Abu Wardeh.
Performances in May were totally sold out with excellent press reviews:
★★★★★ “Powerful and rousing” – Fairy Powered Productions
“An extraordinary theatrical and humanitarian endeavour” – There Ought To Be Clowns
“An opinionated, entertaining and urgent evening” – The Guardian
Over 800 people saw Cutting the Tightrope across 10 performances and their feedback was equally positive:
“It was one of the most powerful plays I have seen recently.” Ayano Yamamoto
“This is a theatre piece that needs to be shown and fully promoted as the views, characters and message needs to be put out here, and also seen by people who either have no idea of what’s really taken place abroad in Palestine or for people to watch a great theatre production.” David Bonnick Jr
“Cutting the Tightrope” spoke to the fundamental question about art and culture in Britain - and beyond - today. Cutting funding, censoring artists, growing institutional discrimination, so that we can’t imagine our ways out of the colonialist, capitalist horror we are living in.” Gamze Sanli
“Cutting the Tightrope is an important first step in using drama as part of our resistance. I hope the work done so far grows and expands and that this is just the beginning.” Ali Zaidi
“I really really enjoyed it and really really hope it has a long life for more audiences to see.” Raghad Chaar
Now we have the opportunity to bring the performances back to the Arcola in November, but we can't do this without your help!
WHY DONATE?
This piece of theatre is important because it educates, brings together diverse communities, and it does not shy away from speaking up to power. This is grassroots, activist theatre that is uncomfortable for gatekeepers and power-holders. For that same reason, we need your help.
Though we are making applications to public-funding bodies, we cannot rely on conventional forms of fundraising. In 2024, events of a similar nature have closed at HOMEmcr, the Barbican, & Chicken Shed; public organisations and funders are running scared. And on top of that arts funding is a real challenge right now after 14 years of a Tory wealth gap agenda.
So, we need you, the people, to support this work to reach the stage again.
Ticket sales will help us cover a large portion of the costs to re-stage Cutting the Tightrope. There was exceptional demand for tickets in May, where we sold out and had waiting lists at the Arcola for our final performances. So, we are confident of raising money from ticket sales.
But money from ticket sales will not be available to use until after the production in November. We need your support, so that we can begin to pay for people’s valuable time, energy, and expertise now.
We need to raise £5000 through this crowdfunding campaign. Your money will directly support paying all our artists and staff for making the show. It will help us to pay for new commissions to be included in the collection, the community activities we have planned, support the inclusion of panellists for our post-show conversations, and the running of PR campaign in order to amplify the impact of our work in journalistic publications. It will help with travel costs for all our staff, and consultation fees with mental health practitioners who will support the wellbeing of our company, and the production of our on-stage designs, and the marketing of the project to audiences and community. Basically, your money right will help with EVERYTHING.
We know times are tough for people right now. But if you can, please support us by donating, and sharing to your networks. Join a growing community of artists and activists who are working together to create positive change.
Photography by David Monteith-Hodge
Video Edit by Bold Mellon
Video Music by Dear Annie