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Drawing on writer John Webber's experience growing up and working in Thurrock, once one of the UK's primary oil refining hubs, Fire Fire is a poignant two-hander that explores how class can affect climate protest and attitudes towards global warming. Performances will run at Arcola Theatre, 9 Sept – 3 Oct 2026, ahead of an East of England Tour, 6 – 24 Oct 2026.
Paige, a middle-class queer activist with Nigerian heritage from Colchester, is protesting for climate action at a country park where Eddie, a white retired oil worker, is holding a memorial for his brother. They clash in fiery opposition, but their paths keep crossing until, discovering they share a long time, personal struggle to be heard, they join forces and take drastic action. Threaded through with East Anglian folk traditions, fire rituals and an original live drumming soundtrack, the drama transforms this tension between middle-class activism and working-class economic reality into something visceral and communal, with warmth, empathy and humour.
Following a four week run at the Arcola, Fire Fire will tour to 16 venues in the East of England, Brighton and Birmingham.
Writer John Webber said, “I grew up in Thurrock which is this slice of land that sits between the Thames and the A13 and should be marshes really. My housing estate is what you'd expect to find in any inner city from the 1960s - wall to wall concrete and nothing to do - but it's surrounded by this Green Belt countryside. So as a kid I would walk out with my mates into the wheat fields, see cows, play in the disused abattoir - all the joys of the countryside. This play is full of that tension between the industrial and the bucolic in a way.”
Biographies
John Webber is a working-class artist who grew up on a council estate in Thurrock, Essex. He has performed at the Royal National Theatre and in major television series like EastEnders, Coronation Street, A Touch of Frost, and Doctor Foster. An acclaimed playwright, his debut play Spiderfly was produced at Theatre503, nominated for an OFFIE Award in 2019, and published by Nick Hern Books. A former Colchester Mercury Playwright (2022-23) and recipient of a Peggy Ramsay Foundation Grant, John has been commissioned by Queen's Theatre Hornchurch (Wake Up People), worked as a BRIT Program Guest Artist at the University of South Florida adapting Emma, and is currently part of the Adopt A Playwright Scheme. Alongside his creative work, John has spent over 20 years translating his performance and storytelling expertise into impactful communication and mindset coaching for businesses worldwide.
Jennifer Tang is a freelance UK theatre maker and stage director, specialising in new writing and fusing theatre with music. Her practice also spans devised work and opera, and she has experience of working with communities and young people. Jennifer was the Genesis Fellow and Associate Director of the Young Vic in London in 2020-2022. She was listed in ELLE UK's 2020 Hotlist, a celebration of the new leaders and shakers reframing the worlds of fashion, beauty, politics and culture. Her productions include Mountains: The Dreams of Lily Kwok (Royal Exchange and tour), Cymbeline (Shakespeare's Globe) and Further Than the Furthest Thing (Young Vic), and she was Associate Director on Imperium: The Cicero Plays (RSC, Gielgud Theatre) and Resident Director on TINA: THE MUSICAL in the West End in 2019-2020.
Metal Rabbit Productions was established in 2012, since then it has produced quality new work in London, on tour in the UK and in New York, garnering multiple OffWestEnd and Broadway World award nominations. Its first production was Ernest Hemingway's Fiesta in February 2013 at the Trafalgar Studios. Today Executive Producers George Warren and Sofi Berenger and Associate Producer Simon Paris continue to produce engaging new work in London and beyond. Metal Rabbit Productions has premiered the works of Phillip Ridley and produced the debut plays by writers Abigail Thorn, Lisa Carroll, John Webber, Henry Devas, Tess-Berry Hart and Mike Stone. Most recent productions include: Blink (King's Head Theatre); Boy Parts (Soho Theatre); Mediocre White Male (Kings Head Theatre & Park Theatre); The Prince (Southwark Playhouse); The Statesman (Theatro Technis); Del Valle (Underbelly, EdFringe); Big Stuff (Assembly, EdFringe) Spiderfly (Theatre503), Evelyn (Southwark Playhouse, Mercury Theatre) We're Staying Right Here and Fishskin Trousers (Park Theatre); Cuckoo (Soho Theatre); Tonight With Donny Stixx (The Bunker); The Misandrist & Cargo (Arcola Theatre); Radiant Vermin (Bristol Tobacco Factory, Soho Theatre, 59E59 NYC); Lardo (Old Red Lion) and Johnny Got His Gun (Southwark Playhouse and UK Tour).
