“If this town gave out a collective breath of exhaustion, buildings would shake across the whole of England”
Two best mates. One HUGE party. Luton pinned by austerity. An evening of noughties bangers and shots of shitty gin mixed with the chaos of violence. A night to remember!
Following a sold-out Edinburgh Fringe run, Chalk Line Theatre presents The Chaos That Has Been and Will No Doubt Return.
Set over one chaotic night, the play follows two best friends as they chase the highs of youth against a backdrop of systemic neglect. Painting a tapestry of violence and joy, it is a raw, real-time collision of friendship and survival.
Told with biting wit and lyrical intensity, this production is a powerful exploration of class and identity, with a cracking house party that pulses round the corner.
WINNER OF THE 2022 UNTAPPED AWARD
WINNER OF BEST NEW WRITING –
BESTIES AWARDS – FEST & SKINNY MAGAZINE
WINNER OF
BEST INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE – OLATUNJI AYOFE – THEATRE WEEKLY
A masterclass in storytelling
Unfolds like an urban epic
Unfolds like an urban epic: its small cast of characters freewheeling through streets and council estates, the fizzing freedom of youth caught against the suffocating constraints of British austerity...it all feels irresistible
A masterclass in storytelling
Playwright Sam Edmunds gives us a teens’-eye view of the town in the 00s with this arresting account of a house party...an eloquent assessment of how fear can result in fury"
Think Steven Berkoff’s East crossed with a grimy, anti-lyrical Under Milkwood and you have something of the flavour of this odyssey into the underbelly of Luton. Writer Sam Edmunds sees the life burning furiously inside of them.
Edmunds paints a vivid picture of the limiting factors on the lives of working-class men, the grinding sense of debt that is passed down from generation to generation, the violence they encounter and have to live with on the street..it's exhilaratin
On Stage
Photos by Harry Elletson
