Wild Swimming
Description
Nell and Oscar meet on a beach in Dorset. It's 1595… or maybe 1610. Oscar has returned from university and Nell is doing fuck-all. They will meet here, again and again, on this beach for the next four hundred years. Stuff will change. As it does with time. They will try to keep up.
A kaleidoscopic exploration of cultural progress, Marek Horn's play Wild Swimming is an interrogation of gender and privilege, and a wilfully ignorant history of English Literature.
The play premiered at the 2019 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, produced by FullRogue in association with Pleasance Futures and Bristol Old Vic Ferment, and directed by Julia Head. It subsequently transferred to the Bristol Old Vic, and toured the UK in 2020.
Reviews
"Joyful, clever and funny. .. Horn’s script is so alive that the whole thing fizzes with energy. .. a fascinating way to get to grips with gender history. "
- Edinburgh Festivals Magazine
"Deliciously immodest, formally inventive and searingly clever. "
- Guardian
"A confident comedic time-travelling exploration of gender rights, power and history. .. delivers laughs throughout. .. sarcastic barbs, a puckish spirit and big ideas all merrily co-exist here. "
- The Stage
"Huge fun. .. a bold, anarchic and life-affirming celebration of progress and friendship. .. a thorough and empathetic interrogation of what it really means to move forward, told with spontaneity, honesty and creative flair. "
- Broadway Baby
"An irreverent exploration of gender dynamics. .. a charmingly wild piece of feminist theatre. "
- Fringe Review
"A consistent source of delight. .. Horn's writing is gorgeously supple. .. a pure sugar-hit of joy. "
- Exeunt Magazine