Scuttlers

It's 1885 and the streets of Manchester are crackling with energy, youth and violence

As workers pour into Ancoats to power the Industrial Revolution, 50,000 people are crammed into one square mile

The mills rumble thunderously day and night

The air is thick with smoke

And life is lived largely on the street

This is the world's very first industrial suburb and the young mill workers who are the living cogs in its machines form the very first urban gangs

Fighting over their territory with belts, fists and knives

Until now invisible in history, their lives, deaths, loves, lusts and defiant energy tell stories that repeat over the decades and finally reach us today

Inspired by the Manchester riots of 2011 and the stories of the Manchester gangs between the nineteenth century and today, Rona Munro's play smashes the nineteenth century against a twenty-first century sensibility to bring the young Scuttlers back to vivid, potent life

With nine leading roles and a large cast of mill workers and gang members, Scuttlers is well suited to performance by schools and youth groups, who will enjoy and appreciate its physical energy and dramatic storyline