China Plate and Staatstheater Mainz present
Run time: 90 minutes
Age: 14+
Content warnings: Strong language and themes of nuclear warfare.
Time Out
Broadway World
The Stage
"If you don't know the work of Manchester-based playwright Chris Thorpe, you should, because he is one of the UK's most thoughtful theatre-makers, tackling subjects and issues that others shy away from."
Lyn Gardner (Stagedoor)
Created by Chris Thorpe and Claire O’Reilly
Written and performed by Chris Thorpe
Developed with Rachel Chavkin
Nuclear weapons could destroy us all, right now – so why aren’t we talking about them?
Sometimes the threat slides into view – Russia invades Ukraine – but that doesn’t make the weapons more dangerous. They’re always dangerous. And one day, deliberately or accidentally, they’ll be used again.
From the team that created the award-winning Status and Confirmation, comes a show about a new nuclear weapons treaty – one that’s trying to give the power to eliminate nuclear weapons to the states, and people, who don’t possess them.
It’s a show and a conversation. We’ll talk about where we are, where we live, and why it’s important people like us talk about this at all.
Created by seven-time Fringe First winner Chris Thorpe and Claire O’Reilly (Abbey Theatre) and developed with Tony Award-winning Rachel Chavkin, Talking About The Fire premiered at The Royal Court Theatre in December 2023.
★★★★★ ‘It’s all masterfully put together… this show culminates in an encounter that really puts the ‘alive’ into ‘live theatre’. – Time Out
★★★★★ “It’s precisely the feeling of community and comfort in the room that makes the horror of what Thorpe is describing so powerful.” – Broadway World
★★★★ “Informative and deeply affecting… Thorpe is an assured and tremendously engaging performer.” – The Stage
★★★★ ‘Chris Thorpe does what he does with a performative skill that is off-the-charts brilliant. It is an extraordinary evening of theatre.’ – Theatre Reviews Hub
Supported by Battersea Arts Centre, The Albany and Véronique Christory and using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.
For more information, please contact Abbie White.
Photo © Chris Webb
31st March 2025 at Bideford College, North Devon (EX39 3AR)
Book now1st April 2025 at Braunton Academy, North Devon (EX33 2BP)
Book now3rd April 2025 at Canolfan y Celfyddydau - Aberystwyth Arts Centre
Book now23rd April 2025 at Thimblemill Library - Black Country Touring
Book now25th April 2025 - 26th April 2025 at English Theatre Berlin
Book now29th April 2025 - 30th April 2025 at Staatstheater Mainz
Book now6th May 2025 - 7th May 2025 at the Albany, Deptford
Book now8th May 2025 at Creative Crawley - County Mall Shopping Centre
Book now9th May 2025 - 10th May 2025 at Birmingham Rep
Book now12th May 2025 at Tipton Library - Black Country Touring
Book now13th May 2025 at Mercury Theatre Colchester
Book now15th May 2025 - 16th May 2025 at ARC Stockton Arts Centre
Book now17th May 2025 at Slung Low - The Warehouse in Holbeck
Book now22nd May 2025 at Lighthouse, Poole
Book nowAlongside the performances of Talking About The Fire, we are providing a suite of digital resources to encourage young people aged 14-25 to engage with the show within and outside of educational contexts. These have been designed to:
These can be used alongside seeing the show but can also be used in isolation to support and aid discussions with young people that are studying or interested in activism and creative careers.
Visit our blog post about these resources and how to use them: https://bit.ly/TATFResources or follow the links below to access each one:
An Interview with Chris Thorpe
Meet the Experts: Post Show Panel Discussion
How to Plan An Activist Event Guide
So, What Can I Do Now? Resources Postcard
The Nobel Peace Prize Digital Lesson
Interested in continuing the conversation?
Join writer and performer, Chris Thorpe for free ‘Arts, Activism & Making Change’ in-person workshops at the following venues along the tour – these are designed for young people aged 14-25 who are passionate about using creativity to start conversations about the issues important to them.
Aberystwyth Arts Centre
Friday 4th April (10.30am-12pm)
Sign up via their website
Chris Thorpe and Youth Advisor, Zainab Rauf-Tramboo will also host some free online workshops throughout April and May 2025 which invite young people aged 18-25 from the UK & internationally to come together and engage in discussions on nuclear weapons and disarmament. Keep an eye out on our Opportunities page on our website and socials for more updates on when these workshops will take place and how you can sign-up!
If you have any questions about any of these resources or digital workshop opportunities, please get in touch with our Engagement Coordinator, Orla Deacon on orla@chinaplatetheatre.com
Chris Thorpe will be returning to Norway, to perform Talking About The Fire as part of Samfunnspolitisk fagkonferanse 2025 (21st– 23rd March) – the socio-political conference hosted by Norwegian Peoples Aid’s Central Social Policy Committee. This year’s conference has a focus on nuclear disarmament.
Chris Thorpe was also invited to perform Talking About The Fire, as part of the Oslo Peace Days (5th-12th December 2024) in Norway last year. Every December, with the awarding of The Nobel Peace Prize as a backdrop, the Oslo Peace Days gather people to discuss and learn about topics related to peace, freedom, democracy and human rights. The Nobel Peace Prize 2024 was awarded on 10th December to Nihon Hidankyo – a Japanese organisation comprised of survivors of the atomic bomb blasts over Hiroshima and Nagasaki; for its efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and for demonstrating through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again. Co-hosted by the Nobel Peace Center and Norwegian People’s Aid, Chris performed the show at the Klingenberg Kino, to celebrate the 2024 winner.
Chris was also invited by The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation (NAPF) in Santa Barbara, and Princeton University Program on Science and Global Security (SGS) in New Jersey, to present Talking About The Fire, as part of their nuclear disarmament events in September and October 2024.
Over the last 5 years, Chris has been working with a pool of global academics and nuclear disarmament experts, to develop his practice and promote the advantages of using the arts to further the cause of nuclear disarmament. This has included collaborating with Véronique Christory – Senior Arms Advisor for the International Committee of the Red Cross, Delegation to the United Nations – who was honoured by the NAPF, as co-recipient of the Women Waging Peace Award (WWPA); alongside Ambassador Elayne Whyte; for their work towards a world free of nuclear weapons – coinciding with the International Day for Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons. Chris attended the WWPA events to speak with experts in the field, about his approach to inviting theatre audiences to have a conversation about nuclear threat, and regain agency on this urgent issue.
Chris then travelled cross country to present Talking About The Fire as part of the 50th anniversary events for the Princeton Program on Science and Global Security. Throughout its history, SGS has worked on nuclear arms control, non-proliferation, and disarmament to reduce the dangers from nuclear weapons and nuclear power. Chris had the opportunity to present to the next generation of scientists and engineers from around the world to engage with technical perspectives on understanding, reducing, and ending the threat from nuclear weapons.
If you are interested in hosting the show as part of your own event, please contact our Producer Abbie White on abbie@chinaplatetheatre.com
Talking About The Fire is a one-person show, inspired by the sister theatre show A Family Business, which draws on several years’ research with senior arms-control advisors, United Nation (UN) diplomats and activists working to develop the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), as well as officials representing nuclear weapons states.
Both shows examine the TPNW, and tell the story of its groundbreaking attempt to shift the power centres of diplomacy around one of the most urgent threats to human civilisation, by putting decision-making into the hands of a coalition of Non-government organisations (NGO’s), civil society pressure groups, and crucially, countries, mostly representing the Global South, who are normally sidelined or ignored in the ‘normal’ power-structures of international policy making.
As well as scenes based on deep research, and information about nuclear threat, Talking About The Fire contains a huge element of conversation with the audience – it is about bringing what is usually regarded as a remote world, inaccessible and dominated by experts, alive in the theatre, and giving the audience pathways to regaining their agency on the urgent issue of nuclear proliferation.
The show undertook two weeks of R&D at Battersea Arts Centre in May 2023 and two weeks of R&D at the Albany, Deptford in October 2023; culminating in a world premiere limited run at The Royal Court Theatre in December 2023. The show played in the Midlands for the Departure Lounge Festival at Derby Theatre in July 2024 and internationally throughout, September, October and December 2024, and will tour the UK and internationally in Spring 2025.
For more information, please contact Abbie White on abbie@chinaplatetheatre.com
A critically acclaimed writer & performer; developed the final show in his trilogy with Rachel Chavkin.
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We’ve produced a suite of digital resources to help encourage next steps around the issue of nuclear disarmament & make…
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Writer & performer Chris Thorpe discusses the themes and influences behind his new show Talking About The Fire; created with…
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Exploring the behaviour and politics humans experience every day, but rarely stop to challenge.
