Chimerica

A powerful, provocative play about international relations and the shifting balance of power between East and West. Winner of the Olivier Award for Best New Play (2014), the Evening Standard Best Play Award (2013), the Critics' Circle Best New Play Award (2014), and the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize.


Tiananmen Square, 1989. As tanks roll through Beijing and soldiers hammer on his hotel door, Joe – a young American photojournalist – captures a piece of history.

New York, 2012. Joe is covering a presidential election, marred by debate over cheap labour and the outsourcing of American jobs to Chinese factories. When a cryptic message is left in a Beijing newspaper, Joe is driven to discover the truth behind the unknown hero he captured on film. Who was he? What happened to him? And could he still be alive?

A gripping political examination and an engaging personal drama, Chimerica examines the changing fortunes of two countries whose futures will shape the whole world.

Lucy Kirkwood's play Chimerica was first performed at the Almeida Theatre, London, in 2013 before transferring to the Harold Pinter Theatre in the West End.