In 2010, an earthquake in Haiti leaves a hundred thousand people dead and two million homeless. Meanwhile, somewhere in a leafy North London suburb, six people struggle with worries over their mortgages, mobile phone tariffs, Facebook friends, careers, love lives, diets, alcohol intake, holiday plans and whether any of them will be able to make any lasting impression on history.

It Never Happened (or State Terror in Eight Easy Stages) eavesdrops on eight different periods from the past: two soldiers reflect on the prospect of imminent death caused by their government's greed; a political fixer makes an awkward sex scandal go away; a young journalist discovers that integrity doesn't pay the mortgage; and a domestic assault turns into a witchcraft trial. Torben Betts' new play is a furious but darkly funny indictment of state-sponsored murder and how governments efface their misdeeds from history with the help of a complacent press and public.