The Political History of Smack and Crack
- Submitting institution
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The University of Bolton
- Unit of assessment
- 27 - English Language and Literature
- Output identifier
- 0049_27_REF2_EE_01
- Type
- I - Performance
- Venue(s)
- Paines Plough’s Roundabout at Summerhall, Edinburgh Festival Fringe
- Open access status
- Compliant
- Month of first performance
- August
- Year of first performance
- 2018
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
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- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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1
- Research group(s)
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-
- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- This output is a published play text and postscript essay supported by contextual information, including a recording of a performance.
Finalist in the 2016 Theatre 503 Playwriting Competition and winner of the Summerhall Lustrum Award at the 2018 Edinburgh Fringe, The Political History of Smack and Crack is an original stage play re-contextualising psychological and socio-political aspects of the hard drug epidemic which followed the rise of Thatcherism and the 1981 UK inner city riots.
The play developed from research in to the collusion between western governments and organised drug crime (explored in detail in “Narcotics and Counter-revolution,” the postscript to the published play text). It argues that the heroin epidemic of the early 80s was driven by international politics and a social policy bent on suppressing a restive working class. The beginning of the 1980s drug epidemic in Britain is told through the story of ex-addicts Neil and Mandy.
Based on extensive interviews with ex-addicts and prisoners with experience of addiction-related crime, as well as interviews with specialists in the fields of drug related public health and criminology, early drafts were trialled with live audiences across the North of England before nation-wide performances of the finished work. The performance drew on techniques of “popular theatre” developed by Dario Fo in Italy and John McGrath in the UK.
This research was supported by three Arts Council England awards. The play premiered at the Edinburgh Festival in 2018 and was performed at The Soho Theatre London, H.M.P. Thameside, The Mustard Tree homelessness shelter and the International Arts and Homelessness Summit Festival. It toured nationally in 2019 at a range of venues including The Bristol Old Vic, HOME Manchester, The Tron Theatre Glasgow and Birmingham Rep. It was favourably reviewed in the national press and was published by Nick Hern in 2018.
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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