The natural world takes the stage, and the microphone, in Timberlake Wertenbaker’s bold new play, receiving its world premiere in the candlelit Sam Wanamaker Playhouse at Shakespeare’s Globe. Written specially for this intimate, flickering space, it is a funny, furious and unsettling fable that imagines the moment the earth finally answers back.
The lights go out, the animals arrive, and humanity is summoned to a secret emergency meeting. A negotiator and an interpreter take their seats across the table from a chicken, a rat, a snow leopard and an army of voices from the natural world, all of them demanding an end to exploitation and ecological destruction. What follows is part summit, part reckoning and part dark comedy, as the people who assumed they were in charge discover what it feels like to be on the other side of the argument.
Timberlake Wertenbaker, whose plays including Our Country’s Good, The Love of the Nightingale and Jefferson’s Garden are performed and studied around the world, brings together politics, wit, philosophy and mischief in what she calls an audacious experiment in stepping into someone else’s shoes. Staged by candlelight, just feet from the audience, it is a provocative and playful new piece for anyone who likes their theatre to ask difficult questions and enjoy itself while doing so.
Why it’s worth the watch
The Animals Come to the Table is a rare chance to catch a major new play on its very first outing, in one of London’s most atmospheric spaces. Here is why it stands out:
- A world premiere. A brand-new play by one of our most respected writers, seen here for the very first time.
- Written for the room. Wertenbaker wrote it specifically for the candlelit Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, where you are only feet from the action.
- Funny, furious and timely. A dark comedy about nature, power and the planet that refuses to lecture and never stops surprising.
- Remarkable value. With tickets starting low, it is one of the most rewarding nights of new writing in London.
