Chasing Hares

'They're always trying to do that. Make us run off in different directions to try to catch a single hare. Because they know. If we work together we might bring down the stag.'By day, machine operator Prab struggles to survive the precarity and brutality of his factory job in West Bengal. By night, he writes stories for his baby daughter Amba.When a popular actress recruits him to write a play for her, Prab seizes the opportunity to expose the injustice of factory conditions and the rumours of child exploitation. But in his fight for change, is he ready to risk his future, his family and even his own life?Winner of Theatre Uncut's Political Playwriting Award, Sonali Bhattacharyya's Chasing Hares is a tale of resistance and dignity in the face of global exploitation. It was premiered at the Young Vic Theatre, London, in July 2022, directed by Milli Bhatia.

'[A] drama about the gig economy and the workers trapped inside it [that] plays out like a thriller. Sonali Bhattacharyya's fast, witty script finds an original way to tell the global backstory of the zero-hours workforce, joining up the dots from child labour in West Bengal to unethical working conditions in Britain... [It has] emotional power and intelligence', 'Impassioned and moving... stirring stuff', 'Forceful storytelling... heartbreaking... this is no simplistic diatribe about inequality... The story seamlessly yokes the personal to the political in sparkling dialogue', 'Powerful... delivers a persuasive final call-to-arms to its audience', 'A story of political hope... Bhattacharyya takes us on a journey that encompasses the idealism of stories, and what happens when that collides with the ugly truth of life'

Sonali Bhattacharyya is an award-winning playwright whose plays include: Chasing Hares (Young Vic, London, 2022); Two Billion Beats (Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond, 2022; an earlier version was staged by the Orange Tree in 2021 as part of their Inside/Outside season), Megaball (National Theatre Learning), 2066 (Almeida Theatre), The Invisible Boy (Kiln Theatre) and White Open Spaces (Pentabus Theatre).Chasing Hares was the winner of Theatre Uncut's 2021 Political Playwriting Award.