71 Coltman Street

I want theatre to be sweaty, exciting, unpredictable....

Mike Bradwell is on a mission to revolutionise British theatre. He’s sick of fancy plays by dead blokes and wants to tell stories about real people, living real lives. And it doesn’t get more real than Hull.

In a freezing cold house on Coltman Street, a motley crew of unemployed actors gather to improvise a play with no name, no plot, no budget and no bookings.

Richard Bean’s (The Hypocrite, One Man, Two Guvnors) hilarious and irreverent comedy takes us back to the 70s and Hull Truck Theatre’s origin story. It is a roaring combination of comedy, cabaret, farce and drama. Join us for a celebration of where it all began...

This edition was published to coincide with the world premiere at Hull Truck Theatre in February 2022.

Richard Bean: In 2011 Richard became the first playwright to win the Evening Standard Award for Best Play for two plays, The Heretic and One Man, Two Guvnors. The New York production of One Man, Two Guvnors was awarded the 2012 Outer Critics’ Circle Award for Outstanding New Broadway Play. His recent credits include Kiss Me (Hampstead), The Nap (Sheffield Crucible), Great Britain (National Theatre), Made in Dagenham: The Musical (Adelphi Theatre) and Pitcairn (Chichester Minerva Theatre/Shakespeare’s Globe). Richard’s other work includes Under the Whaleback (Royal Court. George Devine Award 2002), The Heretic (The Royal Court. Evening Standard Best New Play 2011), Honeymoon Suite (Pearson Play of the Year), Harvest (Critic’s Circle Best New Play), The House of Games (from David Mamet’s film), a new version of Moliere’s The Hypochondriac, The Big Fellah (Out of Joint), England People Very Nice (National Theatre), The Mentalists (National Theatre), The English Game (Headlong), Up on Roof and Pub Quiz is Life (Hull Truck), In the Club (Hampstead), The God Botherers (Bush Theatre) and Mr England (Sheffield Crucible). His radio plays include Unsinkable, Robin Hood’s Revenge, Of Rats and Men.