Paines Plough Unveils 2025 Season Plans, Featuring New Productions and West End Transfer
Paines Plough has revealed its exciting plans for 2025, including two highly anticipated new productions that will premiere at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe before embarking on national tours. These productions highlight the company’s continued commitment to new work, talent development, and supporting diverse voices in theatre.
Artwork for Consumed and Ordinary Decent Criminal - supplied by Paines Plough.
Consumed by Karis Kelly: A Family Drama Set in Northern Ireland
The season kicks off with Consumed by Karis Kelly, a powerful new play about the complexities of family and generational trauma. The play, which won the Women’s Prize for Playwriting in 2022, is set in Northern Ireland and revolves around four generations of women gathered under one roof to celebrate a 90th birthday. Directed by Katie Posner, the production will preview at Belgrade Theatre in Coventry from 25 to 26 July before running at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh from 31 July to 24 August. Following its Edinburgh run, the play will tour to Coventry, Leeds, Guildford, and Sheffield in the autumn.
Ordinary Decent Criminal: Mark Thomas Returns to Paines Plough
Paines Plough also returns to Summerhall’s Tech Cube Zero with Ordinary Decent Criminal, a new play by Ed Edwards. The play stars Mark Thomas as Frankie, a recovering addict entering a liberal prison experiment following the infamous Strangeways riots. Directed by Charlotte Bennett, the production continues Edwards' collaborations with Paines Plough. After its Edinburgh run, the play will embark on a nationwide tour, visiting Exeter, Plymouth, Brighton, Canterbury, Oxford, Scarborough, Stockton-on-Tees, Selby, Coventry, Leeds, Chichester, Nottingham, Manchester, and York from October to December.
Every Brilliant Thing Transfers to the West End
In addition to its Fringe productions, Paines Plough will see the return of Every Brilliant Thing by Duncan Macmillan and Jonny Donahoe. The critically acclaimed play, which explores the value of life and mental health through the lens of a young person who creates a list of everything brilliant about life, will transfer to @sohoplace in the West End for a limited season from 1 August to 27 September 2025.
Commitment to Writer Development
Paines Plough continues to support playwrights through its Tour the Writer initiative and its partnership with the Women’s Prize for Playwriting, which recently closed submissions with a record 1,275 entries. The company is also proud to announce Corey Weekes as the recipient of the 2025 Playwright Fellowship.
Additionally, Paines Plough will support Dipo Baruwa-Etti’s new play Children of the West as part of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama’s NEW’25 festival.
Looking Ahead
With a slate of exciting new work, a West End transfer, and continued support for emerging talent, Paines Plough’s 2025 season promises to be a landmark year for the company. Theatregoers can look forward to impactful, thought-provoking productions that explore themes of identity, family, and societal change.
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