A Theatre Play Tells the Human Story of the Nuclear Disarmament Movement

In an interview published by The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, VCDNP Research Associate Louis Reitmann speaks with English theatre writer Chris Thorpe about his new play A Family Business. Thorpe’s show aims to reveal the ordinariness of the decision makers managing nuclear risks, and of the diplomats and activists working for disarmament. It portrays the friendships and antagonism that exist between them and demonstrates that the human dynamics between these experts are the same that we find in the everyday lives of ordinary people.

By incorporating audience engagement elements, the play leaves spectators with a quiet awareness of the acute threat that nuclear weapons pose and allows them to be scared by the scientific truths about nuclear war, without feeling ashamed for their perhaps limited knowledge on the topic.

Speaking on the side-lines of the first Meeting of States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), Thorpe and Reitmann discuss the power of theatre to transform people and about what it will take to abolish nuclear weapons.

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