BEYOND CARING Coming to Birmingham Repertory Theatre

Following an acclaimed run at the National Theatre, Beyond Caring comes to Birmingham Repertory Theatre from 8 - 11 June. Devised and directed by REP Associate Director, Alexander Zeldin this striking play will be performed with the audience seated on the stage in main auditorium at The REP giving a unique opportunity to see the theatre's largest space from a different and much more intimate angle.

Four people arrive to work the night shift in a meat factory. They meet for the first time. They are employed as cleaners, by a temp agency. They are all on zero-hours contracts.

Every shift, they clean. Every four hours, they take a break. They drink tea or coffee together. They read magazines. They chat. As it gets light, they go home, or to another job. The cycle goes on. And on. Strangers. Until something stirs, until isolated people get too close to one another, too fast.

Through investigation, first-hand experience and with the involvement of individuals in low-paid work, Alexander Zeldin's brutally honest and darkly humorous play exposes stories of an invisible class.

"A ringing condemnation of an economic practice that puts profit before people and turns the basic business of earning a living into a barely sustainable, soul-destroying hell. Unforgettable."

The Times

"There are gusts of sadness; moments of pure desolation. But mostly there is work, with people struggling to survive: to the end of the shift, the end of the day, to the end of life itself."

The Guardian

"The PM should spend 90 minutes at the Yard, where Alex Zeldin's devised piece lays bare the callousness of those contracts and shows the breadline as the thinnest of tightropes."

Time Out Critics' Choice

James Doherty joins the cast with Luke Clarke, Janet Etuk, Kristin Hutchinson and Victoria Moseley all reprising their roles. In addition to the performances, the company will be taking workshops and debate off-site into spaces belonging to communities affected by issues in the play.

Alexander Zeldin has worked across the world as a theatre-maker. His new play, Love opens at the National Theatre this autumn and at Birmingham Repertory Theatre in January 2017. His other work includes directing at the Mariinsky Opera, the Naples Festival (European Theatre Company 2010) and in South Korea, a production of Macbeth (Korean Critics' Choice 2011) and Black Battles with Dogs (2012) at the Southwark Playhouse. In 2013 he assisted Peter Brook and Marie-Hélène Estienne on A Magic Flute at the CICT. In 2011, Zeldin formed an ensemble of actors in the UK with the aim of collaborating together on long-term projects which he writes. Past projects include Doing the Idiots (NT Studio 2012) and Shemehe at the Rustaveli Theatre Georgia for a co-operative project between the National Theatre Studio, the British Council and Rustaveli. His work has been recognised by a nomination to the Rolex Mentor Protégé Award in 2012, for the leading young artistic voices of the future. He is a current recipient of the Quercus Award and is Associate Director at Birmingham Repertory Theatre.

Listings Information
Beyond Caring
Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Centenary Square, Broad Street, Birmingham B1 2EP
Wednesday 8 - Saturday 11 June, 7.30pm

Tickets: £20

Box Office: 0121 236 4455 Online Booking: www.birmingham-rep.co.uk