Islands – an obscene, ink-black comedy about tax havens, greed and the few who have it all. Olivier nominee Caroline Horton and her foul ensemble plunge us into a monstrous world where no-one has to pay… for anything.

Islands spits in the face of polite political debate. Incandescent with rage, it hurls out images of the putrid end-times of ultimate freedom and the rotten, violent underbelly of offshore finance.

“The most talked about show this year”
Andrew Haydon
(Islands)
“What you see, hear, and smell is a playful, overblown, monstrous journey”
Total Theatre
(Islands)
“Audacious, brutal, scatological and not for the squeamish, the excellent ensemble of bouffons and camp queens leave stains wherever they land, and they're hard to remove. They lampoon apathy and complacent anti-voters in fine lusty voice… The kind of agit-prop it didn't seem possible to make anymore.”
The List
(Islands)
The List
Broadway Baby
A Younger Theatre

Original Creative Team

  • Writer | Caroline Horton
  • Director | Omar Elerian
  • Designer | Oliver Townsend
  • Lighting Designer | Jackie Shemesh
  • Sound Design | Elena Peña
  • Original Songs and Music | John Biddle & Seiriol Davies
  • Additional Lyrics | Caroline Horton
  • Additional Composition and Arrangement | Elena Peña
  • Assistant Director (BBC Fellowship) | Lucy Skilbeck
  • Script Consultant | Selma Dimitrijevic
  • Costume Supervisor | Antonia Day
  • Production Manager | Ethan Hudson
  • Stage Manager | Jennifer Hunting
  • Specialist Economic Advisor | John Christenson, Tax Justice Network
  • Producer | China Plate

Cast

  • Agent | John Biddle
  • Swill | Seiriol Davies
  • Mary | Caroline Horton
  • Eve | Hannah Ringham
  • Adam | Simon Startin

Commissioned by Warwick Arts Centre and Harlow Playhouse

Created in consultation with Tax Justice Network.

Islands has been developed in consultation with specialist economic advisers including John Christensen of The Tax Justice Network. Funded by Arts Council England and kindly supported by the Unity Theatre Trust and developed with the support of Oxford Playhouse, the Peggy Ramsey Foundation, National Theatre Studio and South Street Arts Centre.

Developed through Fuel’s Jerwood Residencies at Cove Park, which are supported by the Jerwood Charitable Foundation.

Huge thanks to our amazing Kickstarter and IndieGoGo backers.
Ben Spiller, Andrew Harker, Severine Laudouar, Hannah Elsy, Christine Henry, Jenny Lee, Hannah Boyde, Timothy John Whitfield, Hilary Mercer, Louise Platt, Thomas Eccleshare & Valentina Ceschi, Duncan Harte, Michael Hall, AGBrace, Tom Pickering, Aimee Berwick, Helen Draper, Nicholas Shaxson, Richard Murphy, Alex Howard, Adam Cohen, Gilly Wadmore, Mick Moore, Caroline Gonda, Michael Molloy, Paul and Sally Horton, Simon & Christina Hicks, Geoff Lepard and Ian & Hannah Alexander.