A MODEST ADJUSTMENT

Free your mind and the economy will follow

This was a short play based on Jonathan Swift’s ‘A Modest Proposal’ which satirically suggested simultaneously curing Ireland’s overpopulation and famine by encouraging the Irish to eat babies.

In this reworking of the theme, a negotiating team from the World Bank and IMF meet the two senior ministers in an African country and suggest that they farm their children for a global market in human meat.

The play is short - around 30 minutes - and was written for the National Theatre’s G8 Season which ran up to the G8 Summit in Gleneagles in July 2005. The play was performed at the National Theatre on the Olivier stage. It was directed by Toby Frow and starred Tom Hollander, Patrick Robinson, Nigel Lindsay, Ian Gelder, and Tanya Moodie.

The play was revived (pictured) at the Ohio Theatre, New York, as part of Synapse Productions’ Ignite season of political drama. It was described as a ‘gem’ by the New York Times, and who am I to disagree?

You can read it here.