''The Riots'' is a play created by

Gillian Slovo Gillian Slovo (born 15 March 1952) is a South African-born writer who lives in the UK. She was a recipient of the Golden PEN Award. Early life and education Gillian Slovo was born on 15 March 1952 in Johannesburg, South Africa. Her family move ...

from spoken evidence, which explains and evaluates the events that took place during the

2011 England riots The 2011 England riots, more widely known as the London riots, were a series of riots between 6 and 11 August 2011. Thousands of people rioted in cities and towns across England, which saw looting, arson, as well as mass deployment of police ...

. The play is written in the style of verbatim theatre using interviews from politicians, police, rioters and victims involved in the riots. ''The Riots'' first opened at the

Tricycle Theatre The Kiln Theatre (formerly the Tricycle Theatre) is a theatre located in Kilburn, in the London Borough of Brent, England. Since 1980, the theatre has presented a wide range of plays reflecting the cultural diversity of the area, as well as ...

in Kilburn on 22 November 2011, after previewing from 17 November 2011.

Context

On 6 August 2011 rioting broke out in

Tottenham Tottenham () is a town in North London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, bordering Edmonton to the north, Wal ...

, London in reaction to the

death of Mark Duggan Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

, who was shot dead by a police officer on 4 August. Over the next four nights the rioting spread, affecting other areas of London and the rest of England. Serious rioting, looting, assault, and damage to property and businesses took place in cities all over England. Less than two weeks after the initial rioting on 6 August, police forces throughout England had made nearly 3,000 arrests. The government refused to hold a full public enquiry into the causes of the rioting. Nicholas Kent, artistic director of ''The Riots'', contacted Gillian Slovo only days after the rioting began and together they created a dramatic response to these terrible events, which they claimed would answer some questions.

Overview

''The Riots'' is staged in two-halves. The first half gives a thorough and vivid image of how the riots unfolded and spread from city to city. This is told through witness accounts from rioters, police officers, onlookers and local residents, in particular Mohamed Hammoudan, whose house was burnt down. The second half reflects on the riots, using interviews from politicians, rioters, police, teachers, community leaders, lawyers and social workers, analysing why the riots occurred, for what reasons and how society and the government can learn from them. Slovo has compiled a plurality of voices, in an unbiased manner, which describes, discusses and questions the causes of the 2011 England Riots.

Characters

* Diane Abbott MP *HH Judge Robert Atherton *John Azah * Camila Batmanghelidjh *Martin Sylvester Brown *Dr Barbara Cleaver *Chief Inspector Graham Dean *Sergeant Paul Evans *

Iain Duncan Smith Sir George Iain Duncan Smith (born George Ian Duncan Smith; 9 April 1954), often referred to by his initials IDS, is a British politician who served as Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from 2001 to 2003. He was ...

MP *Harry Fletcher *Judge Andrew Gilbart QC * Michael Gove MP *Mohamed Hammoudan *

Simon Hughes Sir Simon Henry Ward Hughes (born 17 May 1951) is a former British politician. He is now the Chancellor of London South Bank University, an External Adviser to The Open University, and UK Strategic Adviser to Talgo. Hughes was Deputy Leader ...

MP *Chelsea Ives *Owen Jones *Sadie King *Superintendent Leroy Logan *Karyn McCluskey *

John McDonnell John Martin McDonnell (born 8 September 1951) is a British politician who served as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2015 to 2020. A member of the Labour Party, he has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Hayes and Harlington since 1997. ...

MP *Revs Nims Obunge *Sir Hugh Orde *Greg Powell *Jacob Sakil *Stafford Scott *David Swarbrick *Inspector Winter *Man 1 *Man 2 *Man 3

Original cast

The original cast consisted of fourteen actors playing 30 characters: Michele Austin, Sarah Ball, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Grant Burgin, Christopher Fox, Rupert Holliday Evans,

Clementine Marlowe-Hunt A clementine (''Citrus × clementina'') is a tangor, a citrus fruit hybrid between a willowleaf mandarin orange ( ''C.'' × ''deliciosa'') and a sweet orange (''C. × sinensis''), named in honor of Clément Rodier, a French missionary who fir ...

, Okezie Morro, Cyril Nri, Tom Padley, Alan Parnaby, Selva Rasalingam, Steve Toussaint and Tim Woodward.The Riots (Tottenham Transfer)
Tricycle (4 January 2012).

Transfer

After a sell out show and 4 star reviews from major newspapers including ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' and ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

''The Riots, Tricycle Theatre, review
''The Daily Telegraph''. the production of ''The Riots'' closed at the Tricycle Theatre on 10 December 2011. ''The Riots'' transferred to the

Bernie Grant Arts Centre The Bernie Grant Arts Centre (BGAC) is a £15 million purpose-built multi-arts centre, which includes a 274-seat auditorium, studio/rehearsal space, café/bar, enterprise centre and open spaces. It is located next to the Town Hall in Tottenham, ...

in Tottenham from 4–14 January 2012.

References

External links

* Tricycle Theatre Official Websit

{{DEFAULTSORT:Riots English plays 2011 England riots 2011 plays Docudrama plays