M.A.D.: Mutual Assured Destruction

Description

At the height of the cold war M.A.D. stood for Mutually Assured Destruction. For 11-year-old John it meant Mum and Dad. M.A.D. is a family drama following the lives of a struggling market trader, his frustrated wife and their young boy John, as their whole world appears to be coming to an end. Set in 1984, in the aftermath of the terrifying post-apocalyptic TV drama Threads, and then nearly twenty years later, M.A.D. tenderly explores the gap between the lifestyles and aspirations of parents and son. Out of a world full of cold war paranoia, an emotional fall-out haunts this ordinary family, threatening to rip apart the love that once drew them together.

Full-length plays include Festen (a dramatisation of the Dogme film, Almieda Theatre 2004); Serving It Up (Bush Theatre, 1996); A Week With Tony (Finborough Theatre, 1996); Summer Begins (RNT Studio & Donmar Warehouse, Four Corners Festival of New Writing, 1997); Falling (Hampstead Theatre, A Small Drop of Ink Festival of New Writing, 1999), and Under the Blue Sky (Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Upst airs, 2000), which in January 2001 was awarded the Time Out Live Award for Best New Play in the West End. His short plays include Cabbage for, Tea, Tea, Tea! (Exeter University, 1995), Fighting for Br eath (Finborough Theatre, 1995), Dirty (Theatre Royal Stratford East, Young Voices, 1996) and Thanks Mum (Red Room & BAC, 1998). Television and short film includes Killers (BBC Choice) and The Nugget Run (16th Foyle Film Festival). Radio includes Michael and Me and Stratford, Ilford, Romford and all Stations to Shenfield (BBC Radio 4).