Play about paedophilia in dystopian future set for West End transfer

 
Dark subjects: The Nether by Jennifer Haley will open at the Duke of York’s theatre (Picture: Johan Persson)

A five-star play about paedophilia in a dystopian future is set to become one of the darkest West End transfers in history.

The Nether by Jennifer Haley will open at the Duke of York’s theatre in the new year after winning plaudits from critics who called it “ethically challenging,” “morally troubling” and “the very best of uncomfortable viewing” when it premiered at the Royal Court this summer.

It was produced by the Court with the Headlong theatre company whose previous hits include Enron, about the American energy company scandal, Chimerica, about the geopolitics of China and the West, and the recent adaptation of George Orwell’s 1984.

Dystopian future: The Nether by Jennifer Haley (Picture: Johan Persson)

The Nether is set in a near future of environmental collapse where people are doing more and more in a realm called the “nether” which is a hyper realistic version of the internet - a virtual reality where sexual and violent abuse of children takes place in a Victorian-themed world of mirrored glass and poplar trees. It has been created for the stage by Es Devlin who designed the 2012 Olympics closing ceremony.

Jeremy Herrin, director of Headlong and the play, said: “It is a serious play and a provocative play but audiences find it incredibly satisfying.

It follows a thriller format and audiences are completely hooked. They realise there’s nothing trivial or attention-seeking about it.”

He said would have have been once considered uncommercial in the West End but the experience with Chimerica and 1984 was there was an appetite for the serious - and serious producers like Sonia Friedman helping to meet demand.

Original cast members Amanda Hale and Stanley Townsend will resume their roles as a dogged female detective investigating Sims, the shady owner of the website, with Zoe Brough and Isabella Pappas again sharing the role of a young girl, Iris.

Herrin added: “I can’t think of anything like it in the West End before but that’s a really wonderful place to be. It’s genuinely thought-provoking. The play is an investigation into something that has gone on in this virtual world but the debate is, just because it’s not real, does it make it acceptable?”

A hundred tickets at £20.50 will be available at each performance with previews at Royal Court prices as part of an ongoing mission to attract new audiences. “We’re changing the demographic in the West End,” Herrin said.

The Nether previews from January 30 and is booking for 12 weeks only.

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