Without us here, though, can you imagine how much worse it would be?

It’s 2024. After years circling the globe delivering aid, Jo has built a career supporting those most in need – a good person doing good things.

But 75 years after her grandfather got the idea of “international development” into President Truman’s inaugural speech, global inequality is worse than ever. Eight billionaires now hold the same wealth as the poorest half of humanity.

And when Jo meets an activist who is fighting with her life for her nation’s future, she can’t shake the feeling that the system she passionately believes in might be part of the problem.

Spanning continents and decades, A Fine Idea travels from post-war idealism to today’s overlapping crises, unpicking the history of aid, power and good intentions.

And confronting the question at the heart of it all:

Do we really want to change things – or do we just like the idea of helping?

A Fine Idea is a response to the bestselling book The Divide by Jason Hickel.

Post-show talks

23 June: Meet the cast

Join us after the show to meet members of the cast of  A Fine Idea, along with the director Charlotte Westenra and writer Christine Bacon to discuss the the ideas behind the play and the process of bringing it to the stage.

29 June: Let’s talk about debt

Dozens of low-income countries are dealing with the worst debt crisis for a generation and now spend more servicing their debts than on health and education combined. How did this happen and what can be done about it?

Researcher and policy advocate Naomi Nyamweya (Senior Policy Manager at Malala Fund) and economic justice campaigner Eva Watkinson (Head of Campaigns at Debt Justice UK) will discuss their work on these issues and possible solutions with the audience. Eva has worked on issues including global debt cancellation, tax justice, housing justice, and household debt in the UK. Naomi leads advocacy that examines how sovereign debt limits the resources available for girls’ education, working to advance fairer debt and development finance policies across the Global South and globally.

4 July, 7pm: Q&A with Jason Hickel, author of The Divide and Less is More

Join the writer of A Fine Idea, Christine Bacon, and Jason Hickel, author of The Divide, the book that inspired the play. They will discuss the theatrical approach to the themes of the book and Jason will take questions from the audience.