Mouthpiece

Following sold out, award-winning Edinburgh Fringe Festival performances, Traverse Theatre Company’s gripping, critically-acclaimed sensation about class, culture and appropriation comes to Auckland. 

Standing on the edge of Edinburgh’s Salisbury Crags cliff face, a woman takes a step forward into the air. A teenage boy pulls her back. Two lives are changed forever.

Libby whiles away her days in New Town cafes and still calls herself a writer. Declan is a talented young artist struggling with a volatile home life on a deprived estate. As they form an uneasy friendship, complicated by class and culture, Libby spots an opportunity to really make a difference – and put her career back on track too.

She needs his story. But does she have the right to it?

Frank, unflinching and threaded with unexpected humour, Mouthpiece takes a look at two different sides of Edinburgh that exist in ignorance of one another, and asks whether it’s possible to tell someone else’s story without exploiting them along the way.

From the theatre geniuses behind 2019 Festival firecracker Ulster American, this powerhouse play – winner of the prestigious Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award – will spark conversations about art, privilege and responsibility long after its thrilling conclusion. 

Recommended for ages 16+
Contains frequent strong language, descriptions of violence, scenes of a sexual nature and references to suicide. Contains haze. 

Watch the trailer here

Listen to an interview with Kieran Hurley on RNZ National here

We caught up with the stars of Mouthpiece, Shauna Macdonald and Angus Taylorhere 

Listen to Kieran Hurley talk about Mouthpiece here

 

★★★★★ A gripping, truthful play for our times. The Stage (UK)

★★★★★ Visceral, emotional and totally involving… Extraordinary theatre. BritishTheatre.com

★★★★★ Magnificent. Brilliantly acted and tautly directed. Sunday Times (UK)

★★★★ A play that wrestles fiercely and brilliantly with the dilemmas faced by serious artists in a bitterly divided society… Tense and unforgettable. The Scotsman