The Unconquered by Torben Betts

‘One day you will say something from the heart, a truth forced raw and screeching from the howling depths of your soul.’

Powerful poetic language, dark humour and provocative ideas build a fast moving story around a fiercely intelligent young girl and her relentless refusal of the establishment. When suddenly a people’s revolution breaks out and a mercenary soldier intrudes the family home, the conflict between the regime and the unconquered girl is revealed.

Under the direction of Muriel Romanes (The Memory of Water) and with a striking set designed by visual artist Keith McIntyre, an ensemble of high profile actors will draw you into a surreal and compelling theatrical experience. The Unconquered follows Torben Betts’ most recent successes in London with The Lunatic Queen and The Biggleswades.

‘Torben Betts is just about the most original and extraordinary writer of drama we have…a boldly visionary poet…a flamingly original writer…’
Liz Lochhead on Torben Betts


The tour is sponsored by REDDING PARK DEVELOPMENT and supported by Arts & Business through the SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE NEW ARTS SPONSORSHIP AWARD and by HIGHLANDS & ISLANDS ENTERPRISE.





In a non-descript coastal town somewhere in these islands, a fiercely intelligent young schoolgirl lives with her parents. She has barricaded herself away from a political and cultural system that she despises; cursing the air that she breathes and the bourgeois mentality her parents emulate. Despite their encouragement to participate in the wider world, she prefers to spend her time reading political tracts and drinking heavily. Then, even as she is embarking on another diatribe against the global governance system, a people’s revolution suddenly breaks out…….

'I have so turned my back from the world, so immersed myself in the double-edged escapism of fiction and history, that this popular uprising, which could have given my life a meaning, has occurred completely without me!'

The play is both frighteningly dark and brutally funny, both broadly comic and profoundly tragic. Its themes are the absurd logic of imperialism and how it manifests itself in individual actions. A poetic meditation on the self’s struggle against the state, about the meaning of community, revolution.


Liz Lochead comments '….quite brilliant and savagely, excruciatingly painfully, funny…Torben Betts is just about the most original and extraordinary writer of drama we have…a boldly visionary poet…a great writer….a political Beckett…there is something of the cartoon-like harsh brilliance of Ted Hughes ‘Crow’ …a flamingly original writer we ignore at our peril. This play should be seen everywhere.'

Torben Betts explains, '… With my play The Unconquered, Stellar Quines have given me the space and the time and the freedom to write exactly the kind of play I want.... Given that they are known for working with Scottish women, it is remarkable that they have given an opportunity to a writer, who is both English and male. The play has received two rehearsed readings (Rehearsal Room 7 & 8) in front of paying audiences at the Traverse and I was able to discuss the play with members of the public and to listen to feedback. Both readings garnered very positive reactions and actually encouraged me to be even bolder with the play.'

'an uncommonly talented playwright' Time Out

Press comments on Torben's recent work

The Lunatic Queen
'… They entertain and disturb simultaneously. This is Betts hallmark… the journey to an uncertain destination is never dull…' Kate Kellaway in the Observer, February 2005

A Listening Heaven
Nominated as TMA Best New Play 2001 (Five Best Plays Nationwide - The Times)
'A great new play...totally gripping...searing...one scene of quite shattering impact proves he is a real dramatist...has an O'Neill-like emotional force...I came out of the Lyceum exhilarated by Betts' heightened realism...' Michael Billington in the Guardian, January 2001

Clockwatching
(Five Best Plays Nationwide - Paul Taylor, Independent)
'….a brilliant orchestrator of pain…Betts's outstanding ability…magnificent…a superb dissonant harmony…' Alfred Hickling in the Guardian, July 2001