It's the 2000s. We're in a faraway country. Rachel, a stellar American political strategist, and Caro, her British data expert, have been hired to fight a ferocious election, in a place where it's hard to tell what's real and what's fake.
They think they're here to teach the Eastern Europeans how to do democracy, but it turns out they're here to learn. And when Rachel's former political partner turns up on the rival side, their showdown threatens to change global politics, from Warsaw to Wisconsin. Forever.
The New Real is David Edgar's epic, panoramic play about how the political fault-line was redrawn. It is an origin story, for right now. It was first performed in 2024 by the Royal Shakespeare Company in association with Headlong at The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon, directed by Holly Race Roughan.
'Edgar's writing has a vigour, a swagger, a taut, tense texture that portrays men and women in the white heat of ambition, duplicity, conscience and tortured idealism' Sunday Times
'There is no more incisive commentator on politics currently working in British theatre' The Times
'A dramatic simulacrum of the past two decades of western politics, David Edgar's play explores some pressing questions where the real-world stakes could not be higher' - Guardian
'Welcome brain food... flashes of insight into the giant forces that shape our present... witty as well as intelligent' - The Times
'Sharply topical and beautifully crafted... gripping, intelligent... beautifully plotted, full of betrayals, reversals, blind spots and unintended outcomes, with the consequences of human flaws playing out on the widest scale imaginable' - The Stage
'An epic and important piece' - WhatsOnStage
'A fast-paced political thrill ride, with some wonderful humour... a play that you cannot take your eyes off' - The Stage
'One of those few brave plays to confront the politics of our world head on' - Morning Star
