The Greatest Play in the History of the World photo on Stagedoor

The Greatest Play in the History of the World Tickets

A man wakes in the middle of the night to discover that the world has stopped.

Show Ended

Date & Time

Show ended

Tue 26 Nov - Sat 4 Jan, 3pm, 7pm & 7.45pm

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Nope, it’s not the greatest play in the history of the world and it doesn’t pretend that it is. Nonetheless this storytelling show that owes something to the best of Daniel Kitson, Duncan MacMillan and perhaps even the multi-universe world of Nick Payne’s Constellations is a small joy. The brilliant Julie Hesmondhalgh makes a community of the audience in a solo show, written by Ian Kershaw and directed by Raz Shaw, that begins with a man waking up in the middle of the night to discover that the world has stopped. First seen at the Traverse in Edinburgh in 2018, it takes its inspiration from The Golden Records, two discs that were blasted into space by Nasa in 1977 on the Voyager space probes. A show that in every way suggests that maybe we are not alone.

About The Greatest Play in the History of the World

Through the crack in his bedroom curtains he can see no signs of life at all...other than a light in the house opposite where a woman in an over-sized Bowie T-shirt stands, looking back at him. Starring 2018 BAFTA nominee Julie Hesmondhalgh (Coronation Street, Broadchurch), The Greatest Play... is squashed full of exquisite observation and heartbreaking beauty. Following a sell-out run at Traverse Theatre at the Edinburgh Fringe 2018, where Hesmondhalgh was the winner of The Stage Edinburgh Award, The Greatest Play… transfers to Trafalgar Studios for six weeks only. The production was originally produced in association with the Royal Exchange, Manchester.