The Irish Giant

Cartoon de Salvo's new devised show – their first to be based on a true story – comes to Southwark Playhouse this summer as part of the company's fifteenth birthday celebrations. At the sharp end of the Enlightenment, The Irish Giant tells the tale of two remarkable men – Charles Byrne, Georgian London's biggest star, an eight-foot tall Irishman; and John Hunter, a pioneering surgeon obsessed with life, death and abnormal bodies. Their story sets science and belief on a collision course, with consequences that still reverberate – and cause controversy – today.