Sidehammer Productions Returns With Martha Loader’s Bruntwood Prize-Winning Play, 'Bindweed'

CITY OF LIVERPOOL, LIVERPOOL CITY REGION.

Sidehammer Productions Returns To Examine The Roots Of Abuse Through Martha Loader’s Bruntwood Prize-Winning Play, 'Bindweed', This October At The Hope Street Theatre

(Credit: Supplied/Image was provided to The Liverpudlian with permission to share, courtesy of the Publicist on behalf of their client. We make no claim to this content).

What happens when those who cause harm are asked to confront it head-on? In a run-down community center, four men convicted of domestic abuse offences gather weekly. This isn’t prison, this is their last chance. Leading them is Jen, a former police officer with her own secrets and scars.

As lines blur between accountability and denial, personal and professional, Bindweed asks: Can people truly change or are some roots too deep to cut?

The show will take place over a 3-night run at The Hope Street Theatre in Liverpool's Georgian Quarter, from the 16th to the 18th of October 2025. Tickets can be purchased through BINDWEED'S TicketQuarter page.

Provocative, unflinching, and razor-sharp, ‘BINDWEED’ dives into the shadowy corners of toxic masculinity, control, and systemic failure. It’s a story of confrontation, within a circle, and within ourselves.

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This October, Sidehammer Productions brings Martha Loader’s award-winning play to Liverpool for the very first time — a work whose urgency has only deepened in light of recent national developments.

In July of this year, the government pledged £53 million to expand intervention programs for domestic abuse perpetrators, building on pilot schemes aimed at tackling addiction, coercive behavior, and violence. Though welcomed by some, others have warned that real change demands more than policy — it requires cultural reckoning, honest confrontation, and space for uncomfortable dialogue.

(Credit: Supplied/Image was provided to The Liverpudlian with permission to share, courtesy of the Publicist on behalf of their client. We make no claim to this content).

Meanwhile, the Office for National Statistics has updated its understanding of abuse, acknowledging coercive control and emotional manipulation as central forms of harm. The result? A staggering 12.6 million adults in England and Wales are now understood to have experienced abusive behavior since the age of 16. That’s 1 in 3 women and over 1 in 5 men — lives shaped by power, fear, and silence.

‘BINDWEED’ sits squarely within this cultural moment — challenging audiences to face the realities behind the headlines. It explores not only those who suffer harm, but those who cause it, and asks whether accountability can ever truly lead to transformation.

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The production will be directed by Lois Crawford, who offered the following: “It is a privilege to be working on ‘BINDWEED’. This is not just a play, it is a conversation we desperately need to be having. Martha Loader’s writing is razor sharp, compassionate, funny and fearless and I'm thrilled to be bringing it to life with such as amazing and talented cast.”

‘BINDWEED’ is a play by Martha Loader, it will be Directed by Lois Crawford and Presented by Liverpool theatre collective, Sidehammer Productions.

The cast includes Olivia Parsons who will play the character of Jen, Dave J Williamson will play the role of Brian & Alistair. Dominic Quinn will play Charlie & Peter, Thom Williamson will play Mike & Ed, Hayley Smitton will play the roles of Nina, Belinda and Siobahn, whilst Tom Williamson will play Frank.

(Credit: Supplied/Image was provided to The Liverpudlian with permission to share, courtesy of the Publicist on behalf of their client. We make no claim to this content).

The show will take place over a 3-night run at The Hope Street Theatre in Liverpool's Georgian Quarter, from the 16th to the 18th of October 2025. Tickets can be purchased through BINDWEED'S TicketQuarter page.