ice&fire Will Present World Premiere of A FINE IDEA at Arcola Theatre
Performances run 10 June - 4 July 2026.
Human rights theatre company ice&fire premieres A Fine Idea, a provocative new play written by its co-Artistic Director Christine Bacon. Directed by Charlotte Westernra, critically acclaimed for her politically charged productions, the play is inspired by political economist Jason Hickel's bestselling book The Divide. Spanning continents and decades, A Fine Idea travels from post-war idealism to today's overlapping crises, unpicking the history of aid, power and good intentions. At a moment when global inequality is reaching historic extremes, the play confronts the question at the heart of it all: Do we really want to change things — or do we just like the idea of helping?
'Without us here, though, can you imagine how much worse it would be?' It's 2026. After years circling the globe delivering aid, Jo has built a career supporting those most in need — a good person doing good things.
But 75 years after her grandfather got the idea of “international development” into President Truman's inaugural speech, global inequality is worse than ever. Eight billionaires now hold the same wealth as the poorest half of humanity.
And when Jo meets an activist who is fighting with her life for her nation's future, she can't shake the feeling that the system she passionately believes in might be part of the problem.
The production brings ice&fire together with director Charlotte Westenra, whose award-winning work includes Owen McCafferty's Agreement (Belfast, Dublin, New York), winner of the BWW Irish Award for Best Director and nominated for The Stage International Award, among others. Casting and full creative team to be announced.
Christine Bacon, writer and co-Artistic Director of ice&fire, said: “At ice&fire we are motivated by working towards a world where human rights matter. Reading The Divide essentially re-wired my brain and left me reeling with the scale of global inequality, but also with my own ignorance about the forces behind it. Bringing this story to the stage invites a non-specialist audience into that expansive conversation and into a story that challenges us to rethink some of our culture's most widely held beliefs about charity and justice.”
Jason Hickel, author of The Divide, said: "I wrote The Divide to tell the story of anti-colonial struggle - a 500 year fight for our collective humanity, which continues to this very day. I'm thrilled to see this story take shape now in theatre, bringing life and texture to a narrative that words alone can never hope to capture."
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