I and The Village

So maybe I just want to opt out you know? Maybe I don’t want to be part of the master plan. The big assembly line in the sky.

I and the Village, by award-winning playwright Silva Semerciyan (Bristol Old Vic, National Theatre Studio and BBC Performing Arts Fellow), is a coming of age story that asks pointed questions about conformity, dissent and America’s devotion to guns.

It’s summer in small town America and Aimee Stright definitely doesn’t want her class photo taken. She’d rather be Banksy, only she lives in a town that hates vandals. Her mother is swiftly losing her battle to understand this tempestuous teenager and trying to use a Laura Ashley dress as a band-aid is one of her worst moves yet. When Aimee walks into church with a gun, it seems that she is suddenly against the world and the world wants to know why.

I and The Village was shortlisted for the Bruntwood Playwriting Prize and inspired by writer Semerciyan’s own hometown. As the gun debate in America rages on and stories of shootings fill our headlines, Semerciyan wanted to understand what it takes for someone to become capable of something so radical. In I and The Village, she explores and challenges our ideas about trust, responsibility and our broken world. We’re all capable of going to extremes. Or are we?

Critically-acclaimed director Robert Shaw Cameron (Birmingham REP and Sheffield Crucible) comments, Silva has a unique theatrical voice. I and The Village is that rare thing, a play with provocative, engaging and universal themes but told through characters drawn with detail, humanity and wit.

Produced by The Forum London and Emily Hubert, this exceptional world premiere has been supported by generous funding from Arts Council England, Unity Theatre Trust and Jersey Arts Trust.