PIGEON.

August

2025

Designer: Eleanor Ferguson
Writer: Joseph Walsh
Director: Neil Bettles
Jerwood Associate Artist: Anna Berentzen
Sound Designer: Neil Bettles
Casting Director: Olivia Barr
RET's Associate Director (Interim): Andy Barry
Den Producer: Hester Cox
Local Exchange Coordinator: Esme Moszynska
ThickSkin Associate Producer: Abi Beaven
Stage Manager: Ella Kirk
Technical Manager: Matt Lever
Sound Operator: Max Schule
Lighting Operator: Tom Sutcliffe
Photos: Joel Chester Fildes

Commissioned and Produced by Royal Exchange Theatre in association with ThickSkin

Debs is convinced she saw a man turn into a pigeon outside The Bridge Inn in 1987. 20 years later she is still telling the tale to anyone who will listen. The pub now stands abandoned, set to be demolished to make way for a new housing estate, and Debs is on a mission to save it! But something strange is slowly happening. What starts as a twinge in her back, becomes something more bizarre than she could possibly imagine.

Is Debs about to sprout wings and take to the skies?

Pigeon is a play about this community, family folklore and what it means to fly away and never return.