A Girl in School Uniform (Walks Into a Bar)

It’s the future. But only slightly. There are blackouts. No one knows what’s causing them, but that doesn’t stop people going missing in them.

Now Steph and Bell, a schoolgirl and barmaid, have to search for their missing friend, until the outside world starts infecting the theatre that stands around them.

Schoolgirl Steph walks into the seedy, empty bar where Bell works. Bell is dressed with everything short and low, and there are no longer any regulars at her bar. Whatever has happened to create this dystopian world remains a mystery, but we learn that there are frequent blackouts, people regularly go missing and women are being killed.

Steph is looking for her friend Charlotte, a girl who also at some point walked into Bell’s bar but then went missing. The relationship between Bell and Charlotte is unclear, as her conversations with Steph shift between truth, lies and fantasy. In this tense atmosphere, where there is a sense of growing fear, the play forces the audience to turn detective not just to track down the elusive Charlotte but also to find meaning itself (The Guardian).

A Girl in a School Uniform (Walks into a Bar) is the third play by award-winning playwright Lulu Raczka and was produced at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in 2017 and the New Diorama Theatre in 2018.