Trying It On

It's 1968. David is twenty. It is the height of the worldwide student revolt. The Vietnam war rages. Enoch Powell delivers his 'Rivers of Blood' speech. Martin Luther King is assassinated. These events will define David's politics and give focus to his writing.

It's fifty years on. The seventy-year-old is confronted by the twenty-year old. Do they share the same beliefs? If not, is it the world that's changed, or him?

David Edgar's Trying It On is an autobiographical monologue, written to be performed by its author.

It was first presented by Warwick Arts Centre and China Plate, touring the UK in 2018, including performances at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, the Midlands Arts Centre and at the Royal Court Theatre, London – as well as at the Royal Shakespeare Company, alongside the RSC's revival of Edgar's landmark play Maydays.



David Edgar's plays have been presented by the National Theatre, the Birmingham Repertory Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company, where he is the company's most produced living playwright. After fifty years of writing, Trying It On marks his debut as a performer.



'Masterful in its rug-pulling structure, what has begun as a eulogy to the good old days and the achievements of Edgar's life becomes an elegant statement that all of this means nothing unless you can and are willing to pass on responsibility with a sense of generational harmony'



'Formally inventive… thought-provoking, self-aware and pin-sharp, Edgar delivers a personal and political play that's more radical than his 20-year-old firebrand self could ever imagine'



'Entertaining... a wry, often magnificently withering analysis of [Edgar's] younger years... a very good piece of docu-theatre'



'A thoughtful, self-questioning play of ceaseless invention'



'Optimistically refreshing... heartful, hopeful and humorous'



'Trying It On challenges us all to question our beliefs: how they originate, how they are influenced by external factors, and whether age really does mellow us'



'Energised with humour and humility'



'Witty, but never cynical… as charming as it is challenging'



'A triumph of confessional courage – and relentless optimism'