Talking About The Fire

Created by Chris Thorpe and Claire O’Reilly
Written and performed by Chris Thorpe
Developed with Rachel Chavkin

Very few of us have lived in a world without nuclear weapons. Not me. Probably not you. They just… exist.

Sometimes the threat slides into view. Russia invades Ukraine, maybe. But that doesn’t make the weapons more dangerous. They’re always dangerous. And one day – deliberately or accidentally – they’ll be used again. And then it’s all over.

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.

Created by seven-time Fringe First winner Chris Thorpe and Claire O’Reilly (Abbey Theatre) and developed with Tony Award-winning Rachel Chavkin.

★★★★★ ‘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.

For more information, please contact Abbie White.

Photo © Chris Webb

More Information

11th October 2024 at Princeton University, Program on Science and Global Security
Book now

Chris Thorpe has been 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 upcoming nuclear disarmament events this Autumn.

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 is being 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 on Thursday 26th September. Chris will attend the WWPA events on Friday 27th September 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.

Shortly after, Chris will travel cross country to present Talking About The Fire as part of the 50th anniversary events for the Princeton Program on Science and Global Security on Friday 11th October. 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 will have 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.

Both the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation and Princeton University Program on Science and Global Security are working to build a safer, more peaceful world, one that is free of nuclear weapons. For more information about each event, please visit Nuclear Age Peace Foundation website here, and Princeton University Program on Science and Global Security website here.

Talking About The Fire is currently taking bookings for Spring 2025. To find out more information, please take a look at the tour pack which is available here or by scrolling down to the Downloads section below.

If you have any questions or need anymore information, please contact our Producer Abbie White on [email protected]

Talking About The Fire is a one-person show, inspired by Chris’ larger-scale theatre show A Family Business, which draws on several years’ research with senior arms-control advisors, 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 in October 2023; culminating in a world premiere limited run at The Royal Court Theatre in December 2023. It now comes to the Midlands for the Departure Lounge Festival at Derby Theatre in July 2024.

For more information, please contact Abbie White on [email protected]