Block The Block
by Nathaniel McBride
Currently in development:
Successful R&D at Contact Theatre, Manchester, March 2025
Currently fundraising for second R&D and future tour
Block the Block follows a tireless group of Hulme residents trying to stop Manchester City Council and a private developer from turning an old pub into another soaring tower block. It's an inspiring and enraging tale of power, politics and local activism. This David and Goliath story asks big questions about community, private profit and the right to have a say about your local area.
The play uses council reports, recordings of meetings and interviews to reveal how local authorities are able to impose developments on communities, and how communities have organised to resist them.
For me, this project is such a privilege to work on. It marries together different strands of my practice - new writing, community work, political art - and even some devising techniques as we all worked out together how best to stage this epic but hugely challenging play. There were forty characters being multi-roled by five actors.
Above all, spending time with the activists was inspiring and to be able to bring to life and do justice to their story was very special.
“I really enjoyed the play — it was gripping AND educational, revealing about those planning processes and their manipulation.”
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Written by Nathaniel McBride
Directed by Joe Gilmour
Dramaturg Lindsay Rodden, Lisa Goldman
Sound Design by Patch Middleton
Produced by Debbie Beeks
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Sue Twist
Lisa Allen
Shaban Dar
Simon Naylor
Krissi Bohn
