A vivid and fast-paced ride through a working-class London estate, fusing Shakespeare-inspired lyricism with Cockney accents.
First seen at the Etcetera Theatre, London, in December 2016, Elliot Warren’s play Flesh and Bone moved to the Pleasance Dome at the 2017 Edinburgh Festival Fringe (where it won a Fringe First, amongst other awards), and subsequently to the Adelaide Fringe (where it was overall winner of the Best Theatre Award) and Soho Theatre, London, in 2018.
Flesh and Bone won the 2019 Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Affiliate Theatre.
‘A true Londoner’s play for a post-Grenfell era’
— WhatsOnStage
‘Fearsome and fantastic… a stunning debut from Warren, laying truths bare with a starkly inventive use of language and movement. It is a delight to experience new writing of this calibre, especially when it shows such distinctive grit. This is the kind of event that grabs manhood in both fists and refuses to let go. What’s more, you won’t want it to’
— Exeunt Magazine
‘A fiery, knockabout story of life on an East End housing estate… Elliot Warren’s Fringe First-winning debut play bursts out from the blocks… it’s vaudeville, Shakespeare, late-night improv, and anything it damn well fancies… showcasing a writer of bruising talent and great heart’
— Time Out
‘Turns the ordinary into the epic. It is sweary and coarse, shouty and broad, and also bloody good… vital and current’
— The Reviews Hub
‘Blistering… explodes on to the stage as if Shakespeare was alive and well and living in a tower block in east London… the play’s elevated language spliced with realism allows the characters to talk about who they are underneath: vital, interesting, multi-dimensional souls who want to live fruitful lives’
— Scotsman
‘Barges its way onto the stage and stays there, shouty, gobby and full of heart until the last, painting a portrait of an east London council estate as rollickingly funny as it is punchily poignant… a bunker-busting hotchpotch of monologues and short skits, smashing together an archaic lyricism and a contemporary, expletive-filled vernacular’
— The Stage
‘Visceral, high-octane… leaves you with much to think about’
— British Theatre Guide
Edinburgh Fringe First Award
Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Affiliate Theatre
