'Dreams.
You don't compromise on those.'
Lip and Ruth have left the city behind for a new life on a farm; trying to live differently, live better. But when Ruth's stepdaughter and her incendiary best friend arrive, this quiet rural project is thrown into chaos, as conflicting visions of the future come crashing into the present.
Poignant and powerful, Mike Bartlett's play Juniper Blood explores the true cost of pursuing our ideals in an imperfect world. It premiered at the Donmar Warehouse, London, in 2025, directed by James Macdonald.
'A questing, knotty, philosophical piece... always utterly gripping as the arguments twist and turn... the writing is finely tuned, with an ear to contemporary concerns. It is also supremely funny... has the feeling of being ancient myth and a report from the front line. It is utterly absorbing' - WhatsOnStage
'Fiercely timely... Bartlett's ability to dig deep into a rich subject with flair and wit is again to the fore... Think Chekhov meets Clarkson's Farm' - Telegraph
'Knotty and provocative... a fiercely intellectual, Chekhovian tragicomedy that grapples with the most urgent question of our age: how to live an ethical life on a planet in peril... Bartlett is our foremost dramatist of national identity... a compelling, often very funny, and deeply necessary piece of theatre' - Theatre & Tonic
'Compelling and ambitious... Bartlett masterfully weds levity through social satire with complexity and depth of subject matter... a state-of-the-world drama, grappling with the very real and prevailing despair over how to live, fix the climate crisis, and find collective hope... Vitally, it is thoroughly amusing, alongside the serious stuff' - Guardian
'A masterful exploration of land, labour and legacy, balancing intimate human drama with urgent existential enquiry... a story that feels both ancient and utterly contemporary' - Reviews Hub
'A play that holds a mirror up to the gaping chasm between idealism and pragmatism... Bartlett's dialogue is always scorching, and as ever he does a fine job of making the political personal' - Time Out
'Mike Bartlett is a chronicler of both contemporary manners and of the state of the nation... Juniper Blood is a play of ideas... compelling... some beautifully comic moments' - The Arts Desk
