In the World of Darkness, everybody wants. And everybody will do whatever it takes to get it.

After working at a petrol station for the past five years, Joseph is suddenly made redundant. Running out of options and with a recession looming in the background, he and his best friend Tobias concoct a plan that will change them both forever. All the while, mysterious graffiti keeps appearing around their town, and there’s a strange and beautiful sound coming from the Music Block at their school.
Because, in the World of Darkness, everybody wants.
And everybody will do whatever it takes to get it.

Written by Mīria George and originally staged as a part of the 2009 Young & Hungry Festival of New Works, Urban Hymns is a dark tale of youthful desperation set against the backdrop of a global recession. Directed by Benny Marama and weaving the poetry of Hone Tuwhare with street art and politics, Urban Hymns asks us whether we live in a society that inspires our rangatahi, and its themes still resonate 14 years later.

Urban Hymns was originally commissioned by the Young & Hungry Youth Arts Trust with support from Creative New Zealand.
Urban Hymns was workshopped and presented in a public reading in Weesageechak Begins to Dance XXI by Native Earth Performing Arts Inc.

This play is produced by arrangement with Playmarket.

Contains coarse language and references to drug use.