Displacement, disability and sex addiction: three interwoven stories from characters on the margins of society are explored in Cardboard Citizens most ambitious national tour to date, Sarah Wood’s Benefit.
Directed by Adrian Jackson, Benefit goes on U.K. Tour between the 18th March and 10th June and comes to Liverpool’s Lantern Theatre on April 16th and 17th and to St. Helens Library on April 24th.
With the Welfare State on the agenda in the build-up to the General Election, this new play explores the lives of three ‘job-seekers’ and the pressures their status puts on them and those around them. In the second part of the evening, using Forum Theatre, the audience is invited to join the debate to look at strategies for the characters which might lead to a better outcome – both in the world of the play and in society at large.
The play will tour theatres, homeless hostels, day centres and prisons, creating discussion and dialogue in these venues. Benefit is directed by Cardboard Citizens’ Artistic Director Adrian Jackson and features a cast drawn from Cardboard Citizens members, all of whom have experienced homelessness.
English graduate Rosa is haunted by the history of her Chilean family, Craig suffers from a sex addiction that is destroying his relationship and Patrick is rendered near-speechless by his inability to understand the Kafkaesque world into which he is thrust seeking support. By telling the stories of these individual true-to-life struggles, Benefit looks at the impact of austerity and asks how we can best deal with the world we are now in.
Cardboard Citizens Artistic Director and CEO Adrian Jackson said, “The show looks at people living precarious lives affected by features of the modern world such as welfare changes, benefit sanctions and zero hours contracts has. By taking Benefit to the very places where people are most likely to have been touched by the issues it raises and opening a space for audiences to discuss those them, we hope to have a positive impact in those communities.”
Tickets for the two nights at the Lantern Theatre are priced £11, with concessions available at £8.50. Tickets can be purchased online at www.lanterntheatreliverpool.co.uk or by telephone on 0151 703 0000.