An unknown woman in a pink fleece. A boy dancing in front of violence. Yet another protest in the city centre, but this time, everyone is watching.

LEECHES weaves together the lives of three inherently insecure characters who capitalise on an alleged act of violence at a protest. Against the backdrop of mounting social unrest, the characters’ desires become dangerously entangled and motivated by this disaster of which the objective facts are scarce and malleable.

This is a story told by three unreliable narrators. In a relentless pursuit of validation, they sculpt their own truth about what happened at the protest in an attempt to fill their own personal voids. At the centre of the violence, and the presumed victim, is a woman in a pink fleece whose identity becomes subject to a public tug of war.

This play was longlisted for the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting 2022 and will be performed by students of the Manchester School of Theatre.