Details
In the summer months of 1976 over a thousand members of the People's Temple sect, after persecution in California, left for what their leader Jim Jones had promised was a paradise in the jungle of Guyana. The paradise turned out to be a virtual concentration camp. On 18th November 1978, members of the sect murdered 217 children by injecting them with cyanide mixed with grape juice. Some adults were also forcibly injected with the poison; others were shot as they tried to escape. The majority willingly committed what Jones called revolutionary suicide - 913 people died. Malcolm McKays new play explores the mechanics of one of the most bizarre movements that started as a social utopia and ended up as a death cult.
Creatives/Company
Author:
Malcolm McKayCompany:
London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA)
Director:
Helena Kaut-Howson