Earthquakes in London

“It’s cabaret, we’ve got our heads down and we’re dancing and drinking as fast as we can. The enemy is on its way, but this time it doesn’t have guns and gas it has storms and earthquakes, fire and brimstone”

An all-pervasive fear of the future and a guilty pleasure in the excesses of the present drive Mike Bartlett’s epic rollercoaster of a play from 1968 to 2525 and back again.

Earthquakes in London includes burlesque strip shows, bad dreams, social breakdown, population explosion, and worldwide paranoia. It is a fast and furious metropolitan crash of people, scenes and decades, as three sisters attempt to navigate their dislocated lives and loves, while their dysfunctional father, a brilliant scientist, predicts global catastrophe.

Mike Bartlett’s contemporary and direct dialogue combines a strong sense of humanity with epic ambition, as well as finely aimed shafts of political comment embedded effortlessly into every scene.

Earthquakes in London was first performed on 4 August 2010 at the National Theatre, in a co-production with Headlong Theatre. The Telegraph called it "the theatrical equivalent of a thrilling rollercoaster ride".