Conviction has its first professional rehearsed reading
Ian Grant
Photo by Gavin Dent
The first professional rehearsed readings of this new play by Ian Grant, and music by Chris Walker & Kitch, will take place on the 6th & 7th October in London.
Writer, Ian Grant, fills us in on the new direction for Conviction…
So, tell us about Conviction...
Maria, our climate activist protagonist, tells her unborn child (Maria assumes she’s a girl) that Big Oil and Big Money are
‘sucking out the ancient black honey, made by the sun millions of years ago, burning it up faster than ever it was made. Fire flares in the furnaces of the men in the towers of money … We have to change that, my girl, or they’ll burn us all’.
Maria’s action, stopping the traffic over the Dartford Bridge for two days, irritated, annoyed and infuriated thousands of people stuck in six-mile tailbacks.
Many are sympathetic to her opinion. Thousands of others are not persuaded by her to act in the face of climate crisis because they have stuff to do, people to see, children to get to school.
Still others believe we still have time to deal with the climate, that net zero is way off and probably meaningless. We haven’t prevented the summers getting very hot – that ship has sailed. Or has it?
Conviction tells a story, in a courtroom, of how these firm views collide, how persuasion struggles, how attentive listening is in short supply. Conviction invites the audience to be sworn in and act, as the jury, to judge whether Maria should go to prison for her actions or be acquitted for the sake of her views. Or is there a middle way?
Dartford bridge towers
Photo by David Jones
Is it still a musical?
Jack Reitman, Cassiopeia Berkeley-Agyepong, Sophie-Louise Dann and Amy Parker at BEAM 2025
Photo by Gavin Dent
At Time Productions we’re in active debate about the form in which we tell Maria’s story. Last year we showed selected scenes from Time-bomb, a musical version, showcased at BEAM2025, the national new musicals festival.
Earlier this year we changed the title to Conviction, feeling that this would capture better the conflict and the deep-seated beliefs held by the characters. We tested three audience participation moments and some new songs at a week’s workshop at Leeds Conservatoire, with mixed results.
Leeds Conservatoire
Photo by Gavin Dent
Now we’ve taken out most of the songs (but written some new music) to present Conviction as a play with music. As the writer, I hope this format might give the story a different urgency, more character development and a deeper expression of the emotional ebb and flow between the individuals and the argument.
What can I expect from the rehearsed reading?
At these professional rehearsed readings, we’ll hear Conviction all the way through for the first time. We’ll discover the strong passages and the weaknesses. We hope our audiences will participate in the discoveries by active engagement in their role as jurors.
Where is it happening?
We also want to compare the effect of the work in different settings – the contemporary theatrical environment of the Park Theatre and the traditional community hall at Coram’s Fields. Our ambition is to take the work to theatres, schools, colleges, community halls, found spaces, in order to play our part in encouraging civic engagement, thinking through one of the fiercest conditions of our times and those of our children and grandchildren – the dangerous weather.
Matinée Performance
Tuesday 6th October 2026
3.00pm
Park 200 @ Park Theatre,
13 Clifton Terrace, Finsbury Park, London N4 3JP.
Evening Performance
Wednesday 7th October 2026
7.30pm
Band Room @ Coram’s Fields,
93 Guilford Street, King’s Cross, London WC1N 1DN.