The Pulverised

Following an explosive premiere at the National Theatre of Strasbourg, where it won the prestigious Grand Prix de la Littérature, Alexandra Badea's The Pulverised arrives in the UK with a new English translation.

Rebecca Boey (Sugar Coated Bullets of the Bourgeoisie, Arcola Theatre; Crystal Springs, Park Theatre; Island, National Theatre), Richard Corgan (Growth, Love Lies & Taxidermy & I Got Superpowers For My Birthday, Paines Plough; The Merchant of Venice, Singapore Repertory Theatre; Gardening: For the Unfulfilled And Alienated, Edinburgh Fringe), Solomon Israel (Dutchman, Young Vic; I Know All The Secrets In My World, Tiata Fahodzi / UK Tour; Octagon, Arcola Theatre) and Kate Miles (The Grouch, West Yorkshire Playhouse; Troilus and Cressida, RSC; On Ego, Soho Theatre) star in this intimate and urgent story, told from a global perspective, with voices from four corners of the earth.

When work knows no borders, what's the cost? Badea's explosive drama is a powerful and unsettling portrait of globalisation’s far-reaching grip on our working lives.

A quality assurance officer from France, a call centre manager from Senegal, a factory worker from China, and an engineer from Romania - in four corners of the world, they are all engaged in one struggle: the multinational conglomerate they work for is trying to engulf their every waking moment. The Pulverised is a vital new play about escaping the rat race, overcoming distances and discovering new life.

Andy Sava comments, The Pulverised is an urgent tale about multinational corporations, and how they have changed our lives through eroding all borders and boundaries. The play tracks the journey of a character who is following the sun, on a round-the-world business trip – it reveals how extremely close and how intimately connected we are, from Shanghai's factories to Bucharest's "silicone valley". Through the storms of market head winds, the personal dramas of failed performance targets, love stories, despair and death, The Pulverised gives us a full throttle unadulterated encounter with our present day working lives.

The Pulverised will also play at York Theatre Royal from Wednesday 31st May – Saturday 10th June.

A production by Arcola Theatre, Changing Face and York Theatre Royal.