New play written in collaboration with Bath's homeless community to tour UK this Autumn

Big Issue Foundation & RoughHouse Theatre are delighted to announce the casting for Unknown - a play about homelessness commissioned by Big Issue Foundation that will be touring the UK this autumn. 

In what award-winning Playwright Dougie Blaxland describes as “a drama that incorporates multi-roling within an ensemble framework” all 58 parts will be played by a cast of just three actors: Scott Bayliss, Dan Gaisford and Sabrina Laurison.

Dan Gaisford - critically acclaimed for his performance in the lead role as cricketer Colin Milburn in the recent UK tour of When The Eye Has Gone - was a member of the cast in the radio version of Unknown produced as selected by The Guardian as one of their “readers’ favourite plays of 2020.”

Commenting on the forthcoming stage production, actor Dan Gaisford said he was “delighted to be part of a beautifully crafted drama that explores an issue of huge social importance.” He added that “whilst Unknown is a harrowing story based on the lived experiences of people currently living on the streets of the UK, it is also a fast paced, innovative drama that incorporates verbatim elements with dynamic physical theatre and a hauntingly evocative, original sound scape by the wonderfully talented Owen Morgan.” 

Big Issue Foundation has supported the production by applying for and securing funding from Arts Council England. Tracy Griffin, CEO of Big Issue Foundation, said that “with the exponential increase in homelessness over the last three years there has never been a more important time to raise awareness of the issues and the reality of life on the streets in the UK today. It is in this context that we are working with RoughHouse Theatre to bring their compelling drama to as wide an audience as possible.”

Moira Hunt, Director of the play on behalf of Roughhouse Theatre said that she was “excited to be working with actors of such skill to create a production of the highest quality to match and surpass the power and intensity of the much heralded radio drama.” 

Playwright Dougie Blaxland, who has written Unknown in collaboration with members of Bath’s homeless community added that he was looking forward to “renewing the creative partnership with RoughHouse Theatre” that brought them the 2021 National Campaign for the Arts Award for their recent production of N17 - a programme about the misrepresentation of Tottenham in the media.

Explaining the origins of Unknown, Blaxland said that “the idea came to me when I read an astonishing article I stumbled across on The Bureau of Investigative Journalism’s website which revealed that in just two years from 2017 to 2019, more than 800 people died living and sleeping rough on the streets of the UK - a significant number of them - very nearly half - have never been identified or named.” 

Unknown will come to The Egg, Theatre Royal Bath on 1 November. Profits from the production will support the work of Big Issue Foundation, changing lives through enterprise for Big Issue vendors and other marginalised groups.