PJ Harvey is writing the score for a new play

PJ Harvey is writing a score for a new play. And no, unfortunately it’s not a theatre adaption based on the time she got a saxophone stuck on her head (see above).

It’s actually for a new translation of German politcal playwright Franz Xaver Kroetz’s The Nest. The play tells the story of a truck driver who is ordered to dump all sorts of toxic chemical nasties into a lake, and according to a press release, it examines “the moral cost of an increasingly materialistic society” and “draws out the sharp relevance of this urgent and timely two-hander.” Blimey.

Peej wrote and recorded the score in London with James Johnston. It’s not the first time she’s worked with the play’s director, Ian Rickson - she’s previously written original music for productions of Hedda Gabler, Hamlet, and Electra.

The Nest performances will take place at Belfast’s Lyric Theatre between 1st-22nd October, before a run in London, at the Young Vic’s Maria Theatre (October 28th - November 26th).