Silk Road: Live Theatre

Written by Alex Oates

Directed by Dominic Shaw
Starring Josh Barrow

“How is it delivered? That’s the best bit! Royal Mail. Postman Pat brings your smack to your door with a smile and his black and white cat is none the wiser.”

Bruce is nineteen, unemployed and living with his Nan. A struggling young Geordie tech-head, he’s the unlikeliest international criminal mastermind you can imagine. But sucked into an underworld dark web of new-age pirates, local gangsters and tea-cosies, it isn’t long before Bruce discovers how easy it is to buy narcotics online.

Prompted by the arrest in October 2013 of the alleged owner of Silk Road, and the first play ever to be funded by bitcoin, Bruntwood-longlisted playwright and Old Vic New Voices alumnus Alex Oates’s play is a biting black comedy about how simple it is not only to buy, but also sell, drugs online.

Alex Oates - Writer

Alex is a writer hailing from Whitley Bay and has been shortlisted for the Old Vic 12 and longlisted for the Bruntwood Prize.

Theatre includes: Rules for Being a Man (All In Productions, UK Tour); All in a Row (reading, Bolton Octagon - winner of Top 5 Season); Mutations (rehearsed reading, Pleasance Islington); Pig (commission in association with Hull Truck, New Diorama, Marlowe Canterbury, Silent Uproar Productions and ACE); Hansel (Assemble Fest, Hull); Silk Road (Assembly, Edinburgh); People Will See Me and Cry (The Story Project, Arcola); Fan Fiction (rehearsed reading, St James); Self Portrait with Bandaged Ear (Parker, New York); Time Warner Ignite (Old Vic Tunnels); Zombie Nation (24 Hour Plays, Old Vic).

Film and television includes: Match Not Found (Bytesized Entertainment, web series); The To-Do List (pilot, BBC Three Comedy); North vs South (BBC Comedy North, pilot); Eastenders E20 (staff writer).

Josh Barrow - Actor

Originally from Newcastle, Josh graduated in July 2017 and made the move to London after that. Josh's passions have always been creative and as well as an actor he is also a writer. He is an active member of the National Youth Theatre and completed the Epic Stages course in 2015. Since then, Josh has worked with such theatres as the Royal Court (Open Court project, 2016) and then returned later on to help develop scripts written by writers on different stages of the autistic spectrum. More recently, Josh performed at Wilton's Music Hall in NYT's 2017 production of Zigger Zagger. In December Josh gained the title of TriForce's Monologue Slam National Champion after competing with a self-penned piece.