Fatherland Tickets

Fatherland sounds a bit like a Nazi phrase, doesn’t it? It does. It’s also a book by Robert Harris, set in a fictional world where Nazi Germany won World War II – the book was eventually turned into a film in 1994.

This is nothing to do with that.

This Fatherland is a play by Simon Stephens that premiered at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, in July 2017 and is now coming to the Lyric Hammersmith from 25 May 2018.

Oh OK. So, what’s this Fatherland about? It’s a part verbatim show, taken from conversations between father and sons from Corby, Kidderminster and Stockport. They’re the three home towns of the writers – Scott Graham, Karl Hyde and Stephens. Fatherland is basically all about what it means to be a father nowadays – fraught with pitfalls and traps, full of complications. Because it’s not just about being a parent. It’s about identity, your perception of masculinity and the expectation of what others believe you should be.

Sounds like an intense piece! Tell me more about these three writers. Well, Graham is the Artistic Director of Frantic Assembly, which he co-founded with Olivier Award-winning Steven Hoggett. The two have worked with Stephens before too, on the multi-award-winning production of The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time.

Hyde is a musician and the founding member of the electronic group Underworld. He composed music for the 2012 Olympic Games!

Stephens is a pretty spectacular playwriting heavyweight. He’s adapted works such as The Cherry Orchard, The Seagull, The Threepenny Opera and A Doll’s House. He’s also written award winners like Pornography, Bluebird and On The Shore Of The Wild World. He is Associate Artist at the Lyric Hammersmith and has taught at the Royal Court Young Writers’ Programme for years.