'What do you want me to say? That the world's ending? Would that be helpful?'

The storms are getting worse, with rains so hard that fish are falling from the sky. But the age-old belief prevails: that the pealing of bells can dissipate the thunder and lightning.

It's a perilous task – one that now falls to two young friends, Clement and Aspinall. And as the weather worsens, they begin to question whether they'll make it through the night. With their faith in tradition faltering, they find the only thing they still believe in is each other…

Daisy Hall's play Bellringers is a comic and deeply moving drama about being young at the end of the world. It was first performed at the Roundabout during the 2024 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, before transferring to Hampstead Theatre, London, co-produced by Atticist, Ellie Keel Productions and Hampstead Theatre, and directed by Jessica Lazar.

Bellringers was a finalist for the Women's Prize for Playwriting 2023.



Daisy Hall is a writer from Oxfordshire. Bellringers is her first play.



'Brilliantly imaginative... fabulously absurd, like a newly minted Waiting for Godot. You'll hold your breath as the impossible-to-predict ending approaches... Bellringers is a joy from start to finish and marks Daisy Hall as a truly remarkable playwright'



'An astonishing debut... both darkly funny and deadly serious'



'Atmospheric and offbeat... a touching human story against a surreal apocalyptic backdrop... Filled with slow-burning tension and a pleasing current of absurd dark humour, Daisy Hall's debut play poses intriguing questions about the human need to retreat into superstition in times of crisis'



'A confident debut which creates such a richly imagined world... slowly but steadily, Hall builds an atmosphere of creeping menace... unmistakable folk-horror overtones... a fine ear for dialogue, for capturing shifting moods... impressively brave'



'A vividly imagined take on climate change'



'Deliciously elusive and intriguing... Daisy Hall's vision of an England on the verge of collapse is conveyed very movingly through her two fearful but steadfast young characters... a Waiting for Godot for the climate-crisis era'



'Unusual and really rather lovely'



'A play of tender humanity... a gripping concoction of metaphysical theory and bleak banter'