East – The King’s Arms
Nearly 50 years after its premiere, Steven Berkoff’s East still has the power to provoke. What was once notorious for its profanity and sexual explicitness now shocks for entirely different reasons. In 2026, it is the casual misogyny, blatant racism and everyday homophobia that land with the greatest force, exposing attitudes that have aged badly while prompting uncomfortable reflection on how much has – and hasn’t – changed.
If Shakespeare met Shameless, the result would look much like East. Berkoff fuses muscular, poetic verse with the grit of London’s East End, creating a theatrical language that is exhilarating one moment and exhausting the next. Performed in the intimate surroundings of The Kings Arms as part of the Greater Manchester Fringe, Stir Crazy Productions fully embrac...