Our Public House Q&A at Marylebone Theatre

When an entire community spoils their ballots triggering a historic by-election, what happens next? In Barney Norris’ new play with music Our Public House, the answer is: everyone ends up in the pub. As the Dash Arts production arrived at London’s Marylebone Theatre, so did we.

Written by Barney Norris and directed by Dash Arts founder and artistic director Josephine Burton, Our Public House is set in a community boozer about to be sold. As recently widowed landlady Sanjana and her grieving daughter, familiar regulars and aspiring politicians are thrown together, secrets spill, songs rise and – in the play’s most arresting dimension, unique to each performance – real local voices take the stage alongside the cast.

“What can we do today that will make tomorrow better?”

The play follows three years of workshops run by Dash Arts in schools, prisons, working men’s clubs, community centres and old age homes across the country. During these, the company worked with over 700 people, helping them to write and deliver speeches about the issues they care most about.

Those workshop voices – transformed by composer Jonathan Walton into verbatim lyrics and monologues – are woven into the play, and, at last night’s performance, included two Londoners presenting speeches on ecocide law and combatting loneliness through music.

Following the performance, I was joined by Josephine, cast members Kit Esuruoso (who plays the Labour staffer sent from London to support the local candidate) and Fergus O’Donnell (flirting with running for office for Reform), and special Parliamentary guest John-Paul Cherrington, an experienced political organiser and advisor to a government minister.

“They still feel like no one listens to them”

During the wide-ranging discussion unpacking the play’s themes, Josephine traced the origins of the project back to a soapbox-and-speeches tent at Latitude Festival six years ago, where an encounter with a professor of political science convinced her that the ability to speak truth to power isn’t the preserve of Roman orators or Westminster insiders. Kit and Fergus reflected on what it means to play characters who see the world through entirely different political lenses.

And John-Paul delved into the compromise at the heart of democratic politics: as soon as you choose a priority, you’re not choosing something else. He recalled the day he learned of Labour MP Jo Cox’s murder, while working on a by-election campaign ten years ago. Cox’s words that we have “more in common than that which divides us” was hard-won wisdom, not just a slogan, he reminded the audience.

I ended the Q&A asking each of the panellists the question Dash Arts poses to its workshop participants: what can we do today that will make tomorrow better? There’s hope in their answers. And, yes, after the Q&A, we all decamped to the nearest pub for further discussion.

Our Public House runs at the Marylebone Theatre until this Saturday 4 July 2026.

Q&A video

With thanks to Michael Pautsch.

Q&A photos

With thanks to Eileen Goodway.

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