Work-in-progress showings of Bertolt Brecht's Fleischacker (1924-9). These will be the first UK performances of this unknown dramatic fragment. They are the result of a 1-month R&D residency at Guest Projects Studio, working towards a full production of the play.

Fleischhacker was Brecht's first play to explore the devastating effects of global capitalism, prompting his interest in Marxism and the development of epic theatre. Although incomplete, this prescient text, written in a broken kind of iambic verse, offers illuminating insight into the 21st-century crisis of finance-led capitalism: its global economic risks and harrowing effects on social cohesion, urban poor as well as migrants. Scenes combine the story of a cut-throat futures trader, Jae Fleischhacker, who attempts to corner the wheat market, with the story of an impoverished farming family who come to Chicago to try their luck; both stories end in ruin.

If you register and later find out you are unable to attend, please make sure to de-register so your place can be reallocated.