SOLDIERS OF TOMORROW English Premiere Will Come to the Finborough Theatre

An award-winning hit at the 2023 Edinburgh Festival and updated for the 2026 run, multi-award-winning playwright and performer Itai Erdal will bring Soldiers of Tomorrow to London, opening for a four week limited season on Wednesday, 10 June 2026.

Many years ago, in Israel, Itai Erdal’s eight-year-old nephew came home from school with an empty box to be filled with presents for soldiers at the front. Inside the box, the boy's teacher had written: 'To the soldiers of today from the soldiers of tomorrow.’ That ‘tomorrow’ has come.

A former conscript soldier in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF), Itai Erdal, accompanied by Syrian born musician Emad Armoush, shares the story of his military service in a frank, profoundly personal insight into the Arab-Israeli conflict, the occupation of Palestine, and the conditions that led to October 7, the horror of Gaza, and war with Iran and Lebanon...

Itai Erdal says, 'Since its original run in 2023, it has been nearly impossible to find a theatre brave enough to present Soldiers of Tomorrow, and I am glad to be able to finally bring the show back to the UK at the ever-courageous Finborough Theatre.'

Every performance will be followed by a post-show discussion.

Biographies

Playwright and Performer Itai Erdal is a Vancouver based writer, performer, lighting designer, and the artistic director of The Elbow Theatre for whom he co-wrote and performed in Soldiers of Tomorrow, Hyperlink, This Is Not A Conversation and A Very Narrow Bridge. Itai's first solo show How to Disappear Completely premiered in Vancouver and has since had 25 productions in 22 cities in 6 countries. Itai has designed lighting for over 350 shows for theatre, dance and opera companies in over 50 cities around the world. He won six Jessie Richardson Awards, Toronto's Dora Mavor Moore Award, a Winnipeg Theatre Award, the Jack King Award, Victoria's Spotlight Choice Award, a Guthrie Award and the Design Award at the Dublin Fringe Festival. He was shortlisted for Canada's highest valued theatre award, the Siminovitch Prize, for ‘Canadian theatre artists who are redefining the stage' in both 2018 and 2024. 

Playwright Colleen Murphy is the former Canadian Playwright-in-Residence at the Finborough Theatre where her previous productions have included The December Man (L'homme de decembre), The Goodnight Bird, The Piper, Beating Heart Cadaver, Pig Girl, Armstrong's War, The Breathing Hole and Geography of Fire / La Furie Et Sa Géographie. She has twice won Canada's most prestigious literary prize – the Governor General's Award for Drama – for Pig Girl and The December Man (L'homme de décembre), and both plays were also awarded the Carol Bolt Award for Outstanding Play. As well as a playwright, she is also an award winning filmmaker, and opera librettist. She has been Playwright-in-Residence at Finborough Theatre, Necessary Angel Theatre and Factory Theatre in Toronto, and at the University of Regina. She received the Order of Canada in 2024.

Director Anita Rochon was Artistic Co-Director of The Chop from 2006-2024, an award-winning Vancouver-based company, known for its sophisticated experimentation with authenticity and involving non-traditional collaborators and some of the finest artists working in Canada. As a director, Anita has worked at the Shaw Festival, Electric Company Theatre, Bard on the Beach, Theatre Replacement, Vertigo Theatre, Belfry Theatre, Théâtre la Seizième, Elbow Theatre, Globe Theatre and Vancouver Opera. She is the recipient of the Ray Michal Prize for an Outstanding Body of Work by a New Director, a Mayor's Arts Award and the Siminovitch Protégé prize. She has also taught at Canada's National Theatre School, Ottawa University, University British Columbia and Studio 58, Vancouver. Since June 2024, she has been Artistic Director at Green Thumb Theatre, a company that produces and tours work for young audiences.