‘Everyman’ is an English morality play from the sixteenth century. Long before the complex theatre of Marlowe and Shakespeare came these didactic plays, devised for and by the ordinary people, and performed in the street or public buildings, with a simple message about living a moral life.

Everyman is minding his own business when he has an unexpected visit from Death. It seems that God needs someone from Earth to account for all the sinfulness and immorality he sees in the world, and Everyman is the one for him. And so Everyman must embark on a spiritual journey to cleanse his soul and make him fit for heaven… but will he be able to rid himself of all his earthly baggage and become holy again? Or is he just too human? After all, he is Everyman…

Splendid’s new adaptation aims to blend the medieval with the modern, taking the black and white certainty of sixteenth century England and smudging it up with the multi-coloured swirl we live in today. Splendid’s professional cast of three investigate the very nature of humanity: what does it mean to be ‘good’? How can we become ‘better’? And who’s keeping score anyway?

With our usual blend of multi-roling, crowd-pleasing comedy, music and political inquiry, Splendid’s ‘Everyman’ is lively, provocative theatre with its head in the clouds but its feet firmly rooted in the dirt.