It’s 2009. We’re in the early years of a new recession, Gordon Brown is Prime Minister, climate change is still mostly discussed in future tense, and everyone is getting very anxious about something called “swine flu.” World leaders arrive in L’Aquila, Italy for the annual G8 summit, met by demonstrations from anti-capitalist protestors demanding a different, better, world. Kieran Hurley, 23 years old, leaves his flat in Glasgow and sticks out his thumb, to be there too. 

Originally presented in 2009, the year the journey was made, Hitch was Hurley’s critically-acclaimed debut solo show. A coming-of-age road movie for the stage, it’s a story of a strangers and service stations, of the search for community, and of jaded youth seeking hope in a failing world. Now, 15 years after its premiere, Hurley returns to this play, older, and in a much-changed world, to ask what its spirit of political hope might mean to us now in an era like this one.

This work in progress performance was a script-in-hand reading of the original play, with live music from Gav Prentice performed at the Traverse Theatre March 2024.

“Brilliant” The Scotsman

“Warm, generous, unexpectedly moving” The Observer

“…its real message is that even ordinary people can be exceptional, and even if you are a bit scared and nervous, together we can make a difference. Change is in our hands.” The Guardian