ETT (English Touring Theatre) is transferring its new show Museum of Austerity to The Young Vic Theatre in London.
Museum of Austerity will play at The Young Vic from 5 December 2025 to 16 January 2026.
Museum of Austerity is a powerful mixed reality installation exploring the human cost of austerity, directed and co-edited by Sacha Wares, founder of Trial and Error Studio, alongside specialist advisor and co-editor John Pring.
The show blends theatre, documentary, and extended reality, inviting audiences to enter a striking holographic gallery confronting the real-world consequences of austerity and systemic welfare failure in the UK.
The production will star Shango Baku, Jenny Bolt, S.J. O’Kane, Gerard McDermott, Katie Matsell, Lindy Pieri, Elliot Pritchard, and Naima Swaleh.
Museum of Austerity debuted at the London Film Festival, and won Best Immersive Production at the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam. The show has subsequently toured to Manchester, Newcastle, Bristol and Hamburg.
The wider creative team includes Composer Adrian Lee; Costume and Physical Installation Designer Miriam Buether; Sound Designer Gareth Fry; Movement Director and Technical Staging Leon Baugh; Mixed Reality Installation All Seeing Eye; In Headset Hologram Lighting Designer Prema Mehta; Installation Lighting Designer Rob Pell-Walpole; and Volumetric Capture Partner Dimension Studio.
Museum of Austerity is an ETT, Trial and Error Studio, and National Theatre co-production, presented in association with the Young Vic, supported by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
ETT is also touring its production of The Last Picture, and transferring Marie & Rosetta starring Beverley Knight to @SohoPlace Theatre.
Currently playing at The Young Vic is Entertaining Mr Sloane (until 8 November) and Ohio (until 24 October). Coming up, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo is playing from 2 December.
Museum of Austerity is running at The Young Vic from 5 December 2025 to 16 January 2026.
What They Said
Director and founder of Trial and Error Studio, Sacha Wares said in a statement: “Museum of Austerity is the result of many years’ research and collaboration with families across the nation. Audiences who have already seen Museum of Austerity when it travelled on tour recognise all too well the impact on their lives of decisions made far away in London. We hope, presenting the Museum of Austerity at the Young Vic, just a mile from Westminster, will bring home the relationship between the stories told in our museum and decisions made just across the river.”
Founder of Disability News Service and Co-Editor of Museum of Austerity, John Pring said: “The timing could not be better for Museum of Austerity to be coming to a London theatre for the first time. Government cuts and reforms are again threatening to expose claimants to the kind of harm that led to so many deaths in the austerity years. Most people do not come out of Museum of Austerity unaffected, thanks to the incredible work of the creative and technical team behind it who tell the awful stories of those who died in such a powerful and innovative way. But I particularly hope that those visiting the exhibition will come out realising that no-one – ever – has been held accountable for these deaths.”
Richard Twyman, Artistic Director and Joint CEO, and Sophie Scull, Executive Producer and Joint CEO of ETT added, “We are honoured to be bringing Museum of Austerity to the Young Vic as part of Nadia Fall’s inaugural season and following a UK and international tour. The dedication and hard work of the artists at the centre of Museum of Austerity, particularly co-creators Sacha Wares and John Pring, continues to inspire us, and we are so grateful to them and to the families whose stories are told through the piece for their commitment to the project. We want to extend our thanks to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation without whom this moment wouldn’t be possible.”
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