ONLY HUMAN: a micro-festival

5 Night • 15 Playwrights • 15 Plays

What does it mean to be human?

For five nights 15 playwrights muse on what it is that make us human. At a time where there is a global conversation around identity and belonging, we look at what unites us, what divides us and what makes us…only human.

Is it the end of the world, is it capitalism, is it a shared trauma, is it our history, or is it love that binds us together? Or is it indefinable?

To say we are only human is sometimes to excuse our limitations or to be subjugated by them but perhaps we, as humans, could grant ourselves the possibility of evolving into something more?

15 plays that explore the foibles, fault lines, and fallibility of human beings. 15 plays that recognise when it comes down to it, all we really are is flesh, bones, minds, hearts, and maybe something elusive called a soul.

Partners and Support

Only Human Partner Logos

07 – 11 January 2020: The White Bear

Creative teams

THE BONES:
Director: Madeleine Oaten

1. THAT LOVING FEELING by Siân Rowland
2. SHADOWS by Chantelle Dusette
3. RISK by Lucy Flannery

THE FLESH:
Director: Aime Neeme

1. BATHTIME by Lucinda Burnett
2. SEXTILLION IS A LONELY NUMBER by Iskandar R. Sharazuddin
3. THE FUNDAMENTALS OF HUMAN GENETICS by Brooke Robinson

THE HEART:
Director: Mingyu Lin & Stephen Bailey

1. TOES UP by Teresa Sparks
2. AUTUMN IN HIS HEART by Sylvia Paskin
3. HOW NOT TO GET RAPED AND MURDERED by Sarah Grochala

THE MIND:
Director: Stephen Bailey, Christine Mears, and Denise Stephenson

1. JUSTINE CUTS by Nikki Racklin
2. YOGA FOR THE FEET by Tilly Lunken
3. SERVICE by Nina Millns

THE SOUL:
Director: Sara Aniquah Malik & Madeleine Oaten

1. SETTING FIRE TO THE SKY by Nemo Martin
2. LILY WHITE LIGHT by Natasha Sutton Williams
3. ANTECHAMBER by Himanshu Ojha

Cast

Annice Boparai
Ashley Alymann
Chloe Ledger
Christos Liberos
Ciara Pouncett
Debra Baker
Finlay Boulton
Gary Merry
Glen Wilson
Henry Gilbert
Iona Kirk
Iskandar R. Sharazuddin
John Hudson
Kate Tulloch
Katrina Wesseling
Kerry Gooderson
Mia Foo
Nathan Young
Neerja Naik
Neil Bromley
Nicola Amory
Sarah Assaf
Shreya Chatterjee
Velda Hassan