Scandaltown (NHB Modern Plays)

When noble heroine Miss Phoebe Virtue receives worrisome news on Instagram that her twin brother Jack may be endangering his reputation in London Town, she decides she must visit herself, and investigate...

Set in contemporary, post-pandemic London, full of illicit sex, political hypocrisy and the machinations of a fame-hungry elite, Scandaltown is a comedy for the new Restoration of the theatres.

Mike Bartlett's play was first produced by the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre, in association with Fictional Company, at the Lyric in April 2022, directed by Artistic Director Rachel O'Riordan.

'[Mike Bartlett] is one of the prime movers in a new golden generation of British playwrights' Independent

'A rambunctious, modern-day Restoration comedy... a springtime pantomime with knowing humour, smut, silliness and arch references to the hypocrisies of the state... joyfully silly stuff' - Guardian

'Laugh-out-loud funny... the mashup of Restoration cadences and modern argot is spot on' - Evening Standard

'Extremely funny... Bartlett's writing is always clever and lively, and he hits his targets' - WhatsOnStage

Auteur

Mike Barlett is an award-winning playwright whose plays include: Scandaltown (Lyric Hammersmith, 2022); The 47th (Old Vic, London, 2022); Mrs Delgado (Old Fire Station, Oxford, 2021); Vassa, adapted from Maxim Gorky's play Vassa Zheleznova (Almeida Theatre, London, 2019); Snowflake (Old Fire Station, Oxford, 2018; revived at Kiln Theatre, London, 2019); Albion (Almeida Theatre, 2017); Wild (Hampstead Theatre, 2016); Game (Almeida Theatre, 2015); King Charles III (Almeida/West End/Broadway, 2014-15); An Intervention (Paines Plough/Watford Palace Theatre); Bull (Sheffield Theatres/Off-Broadway); Medea (Glasgow Citizens/Headlong); Chariots of Fire (based on the film; Hampstead/West End); 13 (National Theatre); Love, Love, Love (Paines Plough/Plymouth Drum/Royal Court); Earthquakes in London (Headlong/National Theatre); Cock (Royal Court/Off-Broadway); Artefacts (Nabokov/Bush); Contractions and My Child (Royal Court).

He was Writer-in-Residence at the National Theatre in 2011, and the Pearson Playwright-in-Residence at the Royal Court Theatre in 2007. Cock won an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre in 2010. Love, Love, Love won the TMA Best New Play Award in 2011. Bull won the same award in 2013. King Charles III won the Critics' Circle Award for Best New Play in 2015.

He has written several plays for BBC Radio, winning the Writers' Guild Tinniswood and Imison prizes for Not Talking.

His work for television includes Press (BBC One, 2018); Trauma (ITV, 2018); two series of Doctor Foster (BBC One, 2015 and 2017, Best New Drama at the National Television Awards); and The Town (ITV1, 2012).