SOLD ON SEX TRADE SLAVERY
A WILBERFORCE 2007 WORLD PREMIERE
Thursday 25th October – Saturday 17th November

A body can be bought for £500 and that body will generate £250,000 in the sex industry.

On the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade, Hull Truck Theatre tackles head-on the modern day guise of the ‘vilest of trades’. Sold exposes the extensive underworld of today’s sex trade, where victims travel from their homes in Eastern Europe to a seemingly new life in England.

15 million women and children each year worldwide are Sold, often by friends and relatives into this brutal existence. This groundbreaking production tells the story of Anya who believed that she was coming to Britain to work in a legitimate job with hopes of a happy future. Poor and destitute, she needed money and easily trusted anyone…

Director and Co-writer John Godber endeavours to show the human face of this harrowing subject, in a play that will be ‘uncompromising in its theatricality’, though he has highlighted ‘the challenge of dealing with material which illuminates 200 years after Wilberforce that slavery is still a blight on the world landscape’.

The extent of trafficking worldwide is shocking. Hull Truck Theatre this autumn dramatically brings this subject to life, maintaining the company’s ethos of pushing the boundaries of contemporary theatre and giving real life issues centre stage.

This explosive and uncompromising new play should not be missed.

Media Enquiries to the Hull Truck Theatre Marketing Department: Tel 01482 325 012 /
Email: marketing@hulltruck.co.uk

Press night is on Friday 26th October: Please RSVP by Fri 19th Oct to (01482) 325012 or by E-mail marketing@hulltruck.co.uk

Cast and artistic team available for interview by arrangement

Editors Notes

1. Tickets £6.50-16.00, Call Box Office or click here to Book Online
2. Adult themes, suitable for ages 15+
3. Education group bookings are currently being taken.
4. Post-show talk back with cast and crew on Tuesday 30th October, 8pm
5. SOLD is A Wilberforce 2007 event www.wilberforce2007.co.uk
6. SOLD is being produced in Association with Liverpool Hope University, and in addition to the run at Hull Truck Theatre, is due to be performed at Liverpool Hope University from 19th - 23rd November.
7. The last artistic collaboration for Hull Truck Theatre between Jane Thornton and John Godber was I Want That Hair which played at Hull Truck and toured nationally in Spring 2006
8. John Godber and Jane Thornton are a successful writing team. In 2005, they won 2 BAFTA Awards for their co-written BBC drama Odd Squad.
9. Sold opens on Freetown Day – Sierra Leone (25th October)
10. The Sex Trade is a very current issue that Hull Truck is uniquely tackling in live theatre. Emma Thompson launched "The Journey" exhibition in Trafalgar Square (Running 23rd - 30th September) and Kevin Kline’s new film Trade is also based on the subject.
11. SOLD features a cast of six: Kate Baines, Annmarie Hosell, Kasia Halpin, Julie Higginson, Joshua Richards and Gordon Kane