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The Divide Tickets

The Divide is a vision of a dystopian future defined by brutal repression and forbidden love.

Children under 4 will not be admitted.

Performance dates

1 February 2018 - 10 February 2018

Run time 4hr 5min (including interval)

Includes interval

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The Divide, a new play by Alan Ayckbourn, opening in February 2018 at The Old Vic.

The play is presented in two parts, is a tale that unflinchingly explores a dystopian society of repression, insurrection and forbidden love. 

The Divide is set in the aftermath of a deadly contagion which, a century from now, has decimated the English population and rendered contact between men and women fatal. Under the dictates of an elusive Preacher, an unthinkable solution is enforced. Separated by the Divide, the adult survivors are segregated by gender, as men wear white as a mark of their purity, and women – still infected – are clothed in black as a sign of their sin.

Brother and sister Elihu (Jake Davies) and Soween (Erin Doherty) grow up learning the ways of their tightly controlled society. As they begin to glimpse the cracks in the system, Elihu falls for Giella (Weruche Opia), the daughter of two radical mothers, risking fatal disease and threatening to ignite a bloody revolution.

Directed by Annabel Bolton, an Associate Director of The Old Vic. The Divide receives its premiere at the Edinburgh International Festival in a co-production with The Old Vic and Karl Sydow.

Content

Recommended for ages 4 and above.

Recent Reviews

4.2
5 reviews
Mrs M Dunne

Absolutely fantastic, everyone should go to see the play.

Margaret Feeney

Very long and drawn out- we left after the first half........we were tired waiting for something to happen.

Jatinder Kaur

It was excellent kept you completely enraptured

Linda Gale

We really enjoyed the play. The actors were all convincing in playing children of many ages and it was all very thought provoking. Even better wed only paid £15 per ticket through theatre direct which was a bargain!

Peter Broadbent

This was an amazing performance of what is a thoroughly interesting departure for Ayckbourn. The energy of the principal actors was incredible in such a long piece, and the level of professionalism excellent throughout. Congratulations to all concerned.

Latest The Divide News

The Divide

Features

The Divide

Once, according to legend, there was a six-hour version of The Divide, Alan Ayckbourn’s belated entry, at 78, into the Young Adult dystopia genre. Some Edinburgh Festival attendees even claimed to have seen it. Watching this revised production, a mere three hours and forty-five minutes short, it’s hard to imagine the expansions.

9 Feb, 2018 | By Ed Whitfield

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