Britain, the near future. Much of the country is underwater and life is radically restricted. In a remote rural outpost of the state, male soldiers patrol the moors looking for those defying restrictions whilst the women try to grow crops to feed them. The struggle for survival intensifies when overseas wars come closer to home and their world threatens to implode. 

 

Ditch received its world premiere at the HighTide Festival in 2010 and transferred to the Old Vic Tunnels for a six week run in a production directed by Richard Twyman. The play was shortlisted for the John Whiting Award. 

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"Impressive ... compelling ... A glinting, compassionate humour and a nicely insubordinate sense of absurdity complicates its grim near-future vision... Ditch certainly takes you on an indelibly strange mental journey."

- The Independent

"Beth Steel writes powerfully and persuasively...The play grips...Steel’s grim vision of the future is both detailed and compelling, and there are outstanding performances by the six-strong cast. You leave Ditch with a shiver"

- The Telegraph

A dramatic finale that drew gasps of astonishment ... Beth Steel's debut explores the minutiae of living when few mod cons beyond radio remain, though jets roar overhead. It also allows us to ponder the likely regression that occurs in ordinary people after civilisation as we know it disintegrates.

- The British Theatre Guide