Following the critically acclaimed 2021 play Grenfell: Value Engineering, Grenfell: System Failure asks further vital questions raised at the Grenfell Tower Inquiry and will tour three London venues in 2023: The Playground Theatre, The Tabernacle and Marylebone Theatre.

Based entirely on the words of those involved in the final phase of the Inquiry (which ended in November 2022), Grenfell: System Failure interrogates why the testing regime failed to warn of the danger of installing inflammable materials, why manufacturers promoted such products with no regard to safety, why government regulations ignored the dangers and were not updated, and why politicians failed to ensure proper oversight. Through the testimonies of bereaved residents, it explores how they were failed by the London Fire Brigade on the night and abandoned by the local authority in the chaos of the fire’s aftermath.

Grenfell: System Failure has set design by Miki Jablkowska and Matt Eagland, lighting by Matt Eagland, sound & video by Andy Graham, costumes by Carly Brownbridge, and casting by Amy Ball CDG with community liaison from Suresh Grover.

The Inquiry’s main QC, Richard Millett, said: “Each and every one of the risks which eventuated at Grenfell Tower on that night were well known by many and ought to have been known by all who had any part to play. As a result, you will be able to conclude with confidence that each and every one of the deaths that occurred in Grenfell Tower on the 14 June 2017 were avoidable. The reasons were many, complex and, in many cases, inextricably interlinked.”

Director and co-editor, Nicolas Kent, said: “During the run of the previous play (Grenfell: Value Engineering) in October 2021, there was much pressure from the Grenfell community and audiences for us to complete the story of the final phase of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry.

“This second play: Grenfell: System Failure focuses on the vital questions of how the cladding/insulation manufacturers, the London Fire Brigade, government regulators & politicians could have averted this terrible fire, and how they failed the local community in the chaos of its aftermath.

“The plays complete an overview of the inquiry’s important work. The full inquiry report will be published late 2023 and its recommendations, if implemented, will hopefully prevent such a tragedy ever happening again.”

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