Theatre’s truth-telling turn: how UK and global stages confront real-world crises

Theatre is sharpening its political edge this autumn, with productions on both sides of the Channel using documentary techniques to force audiences to confront real-world crises. From a four-hour play about a French rape trial to a Japanese celebration of the mundane, the stage is becoming a space for truth-telling—and controversy.

A rape trial on stage: the Young Vic’s unflinching documentary play

The Young Vic’s upcoming livestream of The Gisèle Pelicot Trial has sold out its London run, but its digital broadcast on 30 November offers a rare chance to witness one of the most ambitious documentary plays of the year. Created by Swiss director Milo Rau and writer Servane Dècle, the production reconstructs the 2021 trial of 32 men accused of drugging and raping Gisèle Pelicot, a 72-year-old woman, in the French town of Montélimar. The case, which shocked France, became a flashpoint in debates over consent, victim-blaming, and the justice system’s handling of sexual violence.

What sets the play apart is its all-star cast—including Bridgerton’s Adjoa Andoh, comedian Rosie Jones, and actor Olivia Williams—and its uncompromising approach. Rather than dramatising the events, Rau’s team worked with court transcripts, witness statements, and interviews to create a verbatim performance. The result, according to Young Vic artistic director Nadia Fall, is less a play than an act of public witnessing. “It isn’t scenes and dialogue,” she told The Guardian. “It’s the act of bearing witness that really floors you.”

The production arrives at a moment when UK theatre is grappling with its own reckoning over sexual misconduct. Earlier this year, the industry was rocked by allegations against high-profile figures, including Harry Potter producer Sonia Friedman and actor Noel Clarke. While The Gisèle Pelicot Trial is a French story, its themes resonate deeply in Britain, where campaigners have long criticised the Crown Prosecution Service’s handling of rape cases. Just last month, new figures showed that rape convictions in England and Wales remain at historic lows, with only 1.6% of reported cases resulting in a charge.

Japan’s ‘Mundane Halloween’: celebrating the ordinary in a time of crisis

While London’s stages tackle trauma, Tokyo’s art scene is offering a quieter rebellion. This year, Halloween in Japan’s Shibuya district took an unexpected turn with the rise of Jimi Halloween (Mundane Halloween), a movement that rejects the holiday’s usual spectacle in favour of the everyday. Organised by online magazine Daily Portal Z, the event encouraged participants to dress as “ordinary people”—a supermarket cashier, a salaryman napping on a train, a parent pushing a stroller—and perform mundane tasks in public.

The trend reflects a broader cultural shift in Japan, where economic stagnation and social isolation have made the ordinary feel increasingly precarious. “In a time when so many people feel invisible, Jimi Halloween is a way of saying: your daily life matters,” said Daily Portal Z editor Takashi Sasaki. The event also subverts Halloween’s commercialisation, offering a low-cost, low-effort alternative to elaborate costumes.

For UK audiences, the movement may recall the rise of “quiet quitting” or the backlash against hustle culture. But in Japan, where workaholism remains deeply ingrained, Jimi Halloween carries a sharper political edge. It’s a celebration of the people—and the labour—often overlooked in a society that prizes productivity above all else.

Rewriting Indigenous art history: the myth of Geoffrey Bardon

In Australia, a new biography is challenging one of the country’s most enduring cultural myths: the story of Geoffrey Bardon, the white art teacher credited with launching the Western Desert’s dot-painting movement. For decades, Bardon has been portrayed as a heroic outsider who, in 1971, encouraged the men of Papunya—a remote Aboriginal settlement—to paint their sacred stories on boards, sparking a global art phenomenon.

But Geoffrey Bardon and the Painting Men of Papunya, by historian John Kean, dismantles this narrative. Drawing on interviews with surviving artists and archival records, Kean reveals a more complex—and troubling—story. Far from a benevolent saviour, Bardon was a volatile figure whose mental health deteriorated during his time in Papunya. His departure from the community in 1972, often framed as a noble sacrifice, was in fact a breakdown.

The book also highlights the agency of the Papunya artists, who used painting as a way to preserve their culture under the oppressive conditions of assimilation. “Bardon didn’t ‘give’ them art,” Kean writes. “He provided materials and a market, but the stories, the techniques, the vision—they were always theirs.”

The biography arrives as Australia grapples with its colonial legacy. Last year, the country voted against establishing an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, a defeat that many saw as a setback for reconciliation. In this context, Kean’s work is a reminder that cultural narratives—even those as celebrated as Papunya’s—are often shaped by power, not truth.

Trump’s arch: a monument to division

In the US, a proposed 250-foot memorial arch honouring Donald Trump has sparked legal battles and public outrage. The structure, planned for a site near Arlington National Cemetery, would be taller than the Statue of Liberty and visible from Washington, DC. But its location—on federal land near a bridge spanning the Potomac—has drawn lawsuits from Virginia, DC, and watchdog groups, who argue that the project violates environmental and zoning laws.

The arch, which Trump’s team says could begin construction as early as this week, is the latest flashpoint in America’s culture wars. Supporters see it as a fitting tribute to a president who reshaped US politics; critics call it a vanity project that would mar the capital’s skyline. “This isn’t about Trump,” said DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb. “It’s about whether we allow one person’s ego to dictate what our shared public spaces look like.”

The controversy echoes debates in the UK over public memorials, from the toppling of slave trader statues to the ongoing dispute over a proposed Holocaust memorial near Parliament. But where Britain’s arguments have centred on historical accountability, the Trump arch debate is firmly rooted in the present—a symbol of a nation still divided by the man who once occupied the White House.

What to watch

Theatre’s turn toward documentary is not new—Verbatim theatre has been a staple of political performance for decades—but its current urgency reflects a broader cultural moment. In an era of misinformation and polarisation, audiences are seeking out stories that feel real, even when they’re painful. The challenge for artists, as The Gisèle Pelicot Trial demonstrates, is to bear witness without exploiting trauma.

For UK audiences, the play’s livestream offers a rare opportunity to engage with a global conversation about justice and representation. Meanwhile, Japan’s Jimi Halloween and Australia’s reckoning with Indigenous art history remind us that culture is never just about spectacle—it’s about who gets to tell their story, and how.