They Came to a City

They Came to a City was written by J.B. Priestley in 1943 as a means of scrutinizing attitudes to the post war world. He recognized that through this horrific period in our history, it may be possible for positive change to arise if the social will was there.

The action of the play unfolds around the lives of nine characters, all from different social backgrounds - who are taken out of their lives and placed outside the walls of a strange city. Still unsure whether they are dead or simply dreaming, the great doors to the city open and these very different people enter into a civilization free from disparity and injustice. We learn very quickly however, that utopian equality is not everybody's idea of a perfect world.