The Lads Play at The Wheatsheaf

3rd - 5th November

A bold new work that follows four childhood friends reuniting for their 10-year school reunion. On the surface, each has grown into adulthood - careers, families, responsibilities - but when they come together, old hierarchies and power dynamics resurface. As the evening unfolds, a chance encounter on the way to the reunion reveals a long-buried secret: one of the friends was involved in the rape of a fellow classmate called Gellar.

What follows is an unflinching confrontation of trust, memory, and accountability. The play explores themes of toxic masculinity, male friendship, and the long-overdue reckoning with silence in the face of violence. At its heart, The Lads is a call for allyship, truth-telling, and the urgency of standing up for women’s basic rights.

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Written by Tim Charles

Directed by Matt Kehoe