Created by Frantic Assembly's Scott Graham, Karl Hyde from Underworld and playwright Simon Stephens, Fatherland confronts contemporary fatherhood in all its complexities and contradictions. Daring in its compounding of words, music and movement, it is a vivid, urgent and deeply personal portrait of 21st-century England at the crossroads of past, present and future. Inspired by conversations with fathers and sons from the writers' home towns in the heart of the country, the play explores identity, nationality, masculinity and what it means to belong in a world weighed down by the expectations of others. Tender and tough, honest and true, Fatherland is a vital and necessary show about what we were, who we are and what we'd like to become.

This text was published to coincide with Frantic Assemby's production at The Royal Exchange Theatre Manchester on 1 July 2017, as part of the Manchester International Festival.