Bindweed

An award-winning shattering and darkly funny new play. “Thursdays, curry night. Curry and a pint for a fiver. Go at five thirty, home by ten. Beat my mum up for a while. Bed by ten thirty.”

Each week, four men convicted of domestic abuse offences meet in a community centre to undergo a perpetrator programme. Jen, the new group facilitator, feels out of her depth. But as she starts to make progress with the men inside the room, life outside begins to buckle.

A shattering and darkly funny new play about responsibility and rehabilitation, Bindweed looks at what can be done to tackle the endemic of abuse at its root.

Written by Martha Loader, Bindweed was first written as part of the Mercury Playwrights scheme and won the Judges’ Award at the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting 2022.

A Mercury Original co-produced with HighTide and New Wolsey Theatre in association with The Royal Exchange Theatre.

Content Advice: This show is recommended to those aged 18+, those aged between 16-18 may attend but will need to be accompanied by an adult. This performance contains swearing, violence, misogynistic conversation, reference to coercive control, rape and sexual assault, reference to murder and suicide, and references to children obtaining and sharing pornography.