• Introducing ‘Tickets are Now On Sale’, a 6-minute film of a satirical play by acclaimed playwright Caryl Churchill, featuring BAFTA-winning actor Siobhán McSweeney and BAFTA-nominated actor Samuel West. 
• Film of the play premiered on LED van outside Old Vic theatre as guests arrived for the press night of Mary Page Marlowe.
• Old Vic has previously come under fire from acting talent due to its sponsorship by Royal Bank of Canada, which is both a funder of major fossil fuel infrastructure and investor in weapons being used by the Israeli military.
• Comes at a pivotal moment in the debate on the ethics of corporate sponsorship, after the Museums Association yesterday ratified its new Code of Ethics – which sets the expectation that its member institutions will transition away from fossil fuel sponsorship and those linked to human rights violations.

Download the programme to accompany the film here. The new film of ‘Tickets are Now On Sale’ is available to stream here. If embedding film, please include the following: ‘Tickets are Now On Sale’, courtesy of Culture Unstained (film) and Caryl Churchill (play).

A powerful new film starring BAFTA-winning actor Siobhán McSweeney (Derry Girls) and BAFTA-nominated actor Samuel West (Howards End) has premiered on the doorstep of one of London’s leading theatres, shining a spotlight on how corporate sponsors profiting from fossil fuels, weapons and the genocide in Gaza co-opt the arts to help clean-up their image.

The short film of ‘Tickets are Now on Sale’ – a play by one of Britain’s greatest living playwrights Caryl Churchill – was screened on an LED Ad-van outside The Old Vic theatre as the audience arrived for the Press Night of its latest show, Mary Page Marlowe. Culture Unstained, who produced the film, chose the location for its unofficial premier owing to the theatre’s high-profile sponsorship deal with Royal Bank of Canada, which is both a funder of fossil fuel pipeline projects as well as a major investor in weapons being used by the Israeli military.

The play, originally written in 2015 against the backdrop of escalating campaigns against BP’s sponsorship of the arts, speaks powerfully to the current debate around ethical funding of the arts which continues to ramp up. In addition to The Old Vic, The British Museum and Science Museum continue to face opposition over their partnerships with fossil fuel sponsors BP and Adani, while a second Associate Artist recently resigned from Sadler’s Wells over its sponsorship deal with Barclays. On Tuesday, the membership body for museums and galleries in the UK, the Museums Association, ratified a new ‘Code of Ethics’; the Association now expects its members to “transition away” from sponsorship from those involved in environmental harm “including fossil fuels”, as well as those linked to human rights violations. 

On taking part in the play and film, actor and presenter Siobhán McSweeney has said:

“I think as artists, we get let off the hook – and certainly as actors, we get let off the hook a lot in not challenging the status quo. I think that being an artist, part of your job is to make things a bit better. Theatre needs sponsorship. It doesn’t need to be complicit in genocide, in the arms trade, and in the destruction of the world. That shouldn’t be the option. 

I love theatre, theatre’s my life, but I’m not willing  to sacrifice the world for it. We need to find some kind of compromise. And the fact of the matter is that it’s become the status quo but it doesn’t have to be. There can be another way. There has been another way. There will be another way. And if this film – penned by the genius that is Caryl Churchill, the theatre-maker that is Caryl Churchill – if she can shed some light on it then who am I to say no.”

‘Tickets are Now On Sale’ adopts Churchill’s innovative style and experimentation with structure. McSweeney and West appear as two lovers in a short scene that loops over and over but with their dialogue being gradually infiltrated by brand names and slogans as it is subjected to an almost literal corporate takeover. As the lovers repeat their exchange, Churchill seamlessly substitutes in the names of notorious fossil fuel sponsors BP and Shell, controversial banking donors such as Coutts and Barclays, and highlights the pressure to censor criticism of Israel’s occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, with the concerned question of a lover (played by Samuel West) in the initial scene – “I do think there’s something you’re not telling me?” – eventually becoming, “I do think there’s Israel’s illegal occupation you’re not telling me?”

Caryl Churchill has said:

“Theatres used to claim they wouldn’t survive without tobacco sponsorship. Now it’s time to refuse to let our work be used to advertise companies causing destruction and death by investment in fossil fuels and Israel’s atrocities.”

Director and Old Vic ‘New Voices’ alumni, Cressida Brown, who commissioned the original play and directed the new film, has said:

“I first commissioned this play from Caryl Churchill some ten years ago and, since then, many cultural organisations have stopped taking tainted money from the likes of BP and the Sacklers. However, making this new film revealed just how insidious the influence of unethical sponsors can be and how far we still have to go. As a genocide in Gaza is livestreamed to our phones ever day, too many cultural organisations are still contributing to a culture of silence and, in some cases, actively defending their complicit corporate sponsors – like Barclays and RBC – that are profiting from the violent repression of Palestinians.”

The LED van also showed a version of the play interspersed with the Old Vic’s own comments on sponsorship, including a reference to a letter co-signed by the Old Vic which appeared in the Financial Times defending corporate partnerships, as well as its 2024 corporate partnerships brochure in which it describes the theatre as “a stage on which to tell your brand’s story”. 

The audience also heard from Chief Na’Moks of the Wet-suwet-en First Nations describing the state violence brought to his community as a result of RBC’s Coastal Gaslink pipeline which is being imposed on unceded First Nations territory in Canada without their consent: “Our people have been removed, their cabins have been burned to the ground. They [law enforcement] come at us with axes, with power saws, with snipers. This is what the money of the Royal Bank of Canada does. Do not allow RBC to continue to sponsor this building.”

The film website ticketsarenowonsale.com directs viewers to email the current and incoming Old Vic Directors, Matthew Warchus and Rupert Goold respectively, urging them to work to end the partnership with RBC. 

Tickets Are Now On Sale was originally performed in 2015 as part of a Fringe event at Edinburgh Festival, as part of a collection of short plays ‘Walking the Tightrope’, commissioned by Cressida Brown, who is also the Director of this filmed iteration featuring McSweeney & West.

Film Credits: 

Written by: CARYL CHURCHILL

Starring: SIOBHÁN MCSWEENEY  &  SAMUEL WEST 

Produced by: CULTURE UNSTAINED

Director of Photography: MIKE DAVIES

Editor: CHARLIE LORT-PHILLIPS

Production Design: GEORGIA LOWE

Sound Recordist: JIMMY FERRUFINO

Lighting: RICHARD WILLIAMSON

Music composed by: MJ MCCARTHY

Assistant Directors: SARA MASRY & ALIA MASRY

Filmed at: RICH MIX

Directed by: CRESSIDA BROWN

RBC Investments

Royal Bank of Canada is both a funder of major fossil fuel infrastructure and investor in weapons being used by the Israeli military. One of the world’s biggest fossil fuel financiers, it has poured billions into highly controversial oil and gas pipelines such as the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline and the Coastal GasLink pipeline which is violating indigenous rights in Wet’swuet’en land in Canada.  With a history steeped in colonialism and land theft.

RBC is also deeply invested in the genocide, illegal occupation and apartheid against the Palestinian people. RBC’s investments include weapons manufacturers supplying Israel, companies complicit with illegal settlements, and AI systems targeting Palestinians. RBC has invested over $9 billion in shares and loans in weapons manufacturers supplying Israel from 2022-2025, increasing its investment substantially throughout the course of the genocide.