The Divide
By Alan Ayckbourn
EIF and Old Vic Theatre (2017/2018)
Directed by Annabel Bolton
Lighting design by David Plater
Projection design by Ash Woodward
Photographs by Marc Marnie
The Divide Lectures’ explore a period in our future history when men and and women live separately in a segregated England. The population, culture and technology have been decimated by a catastrophic plague. But the division between genders is maintained long after the threat of cross-sex contamination has disappeared.
This world is brought to life through the scenic elements describing the lecture hall: lecterns, display cases, projection screens, black boards and flip charts. Generic civic drapery reveals and conceals, frames, wraps and veils the action, as well as bathing in Ash’s enormous projections.
"…extraordinarily good acting and design"
The Times
"Laura Hopkins’s dark design…creates a plausible futuristic world."
Guardian
"Equally fluid is Laura Hopkins’s beautiful staging…which remains elegant while leaving us in no doubt as to where and when we are."
The Arts desk