World Premiere

Vela, the revered and celebrated architect of this new society, has recently been avoiding her public duties in favour of visiting the Old Earth Museum and the company of its Security Guard. As the final migrants arrive, she is becoming increasingly obsessed by her memories, and questions are growing about her sanity.

Award-winning theatre company Grid Iron fuses live interactive performance with innovative digital and new media technologies. Leaving Planet Earth is a site-responsive promenade production on an epic scale. Tracing the story of humanity’s first migration into space, it asks fundamental questions about our connection to this planet. Should we leave this world, and if so, who will endure and at what cost?

Please note: the journey to New Earth begins at 8.00pm at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC). Buses will then transport travellers to New Earth (and back).

Data on the inhabitants of New Earth is an important part of the experience. Grid Iron will contact ticket holders in advance to discuss traveller information and preferences and ask about their memories of Old Earth.

‘Grid Iron are surely now one of the most sophisticated site-specific theatre makers in Europe.’
The Times

'The frenetic buzz of Edinburgh during festival season makes the overall effect of Leaving Planet Earth all the more poignant.'

WIRED magazine