The Incident Room

It’s 1975. The Millgarth Incident Room in Leeds is the epicentre of the biggest manhunt in British history, for one of the most notorious serial killers: the Yorkshire Ripper.

With public and political pressure mounting, hundreds of officers must work around the clock and resort to increasingly audacious attempts to end one man’s campaign of terror.

Olivia Hirst and David Byrne’s ‘beautifully crafted’ (Guardian) play goes behind the scenes to investigate the case that nearly broke the British police force.

The Incident Room was first performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2019, transferring to New Diorama Theatre, London, in 2020, ahead of an Off-Broadway run.

‘The ingenuity of this piece is that it gives you a pacey, clock-ticking sense of what things were like’
- Telegraph

‘An utterly compelling, imaginative portrayal of failure and guilt… takes the expectations of the police drama and the true crime genre, and reveals far deeper, more uncomfortable truths within’
- The Reviews Hub

‘Tense and chilling’
- Daily Mail

‘A finely tuned script… an engrossing piece of theatre’
- British Theatre Guide

‘Completely compelling to watch… intelligent, imaginative and, most of all, damn interesting’
- The Stage

‘An absorbing and emotive play with real heart, and plenty of unexpected humour’
- Everything Theatre

‘Has the quick, zingy dialogue that you’d expect from a cop show… accentuates the people and the personalities within the police force and the victims’
- Broadway World