Running now until 18th February, Stuart Slade's BU21 follows six Londoners in the aftermath of a terrorist attack.

By turns terrifying, inspiring, brutal, heart breaking and hilarious, BU21 is verbatim theatre from the very near future.

Transferring after a sell-out run at Theatre503, BU21 has been described as…

’Intelligent, questioning and very funny'

The Stage

*****

'When did you ever see a terror-plot rom-com? BU21 dares you to laugh - because if you can't laugh, right, the terrorists have won. Haven't they? ...a theatrical joyride'

WhatsOnStage

****

'Slade is an Alan Bennett for a millennial generation'

Broadway World

*****

Speaking to Run Riot last month, Slade discussed creating the play’s six fictional characters, and how he was mindful of putting their (albeit imagined) stories on stage.

On what he saw as the difficulties of using tragedy to create art in a way that doesn’t feel exploitative, Slade said: “I’ve sometimes been to the theatre (or the cinema) and watched ghastly human suffering, and I’ve come away feeling really dirty and voyeuristic. People sometimes talk about catharsis - but if catharsis means somehow feeling better about yourself by watching somebody else’s despair, then catharsis, to be honest, can do one, pal.”

Produced by Mark Cartwright and Tim Johanson

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COMPETITION: Win 1x pair of tickets to attend BU21 at Trafalgar Studios at a performance of your choice up to 27th January and subject to availability. To enter the competition, send an email to ava@run-riot.com with the correct answer in the ‘subject’ line. The winner will be randomly selected.

Q: Fill in the missing word from this excerpt of Slade’s Run Riot interview: “I’m a very firm believer in the idea that every act is _______, especially in the theatre.”

A: .1) Necessary .2) Political .3) Multi-faceted .4) Complicated