After a highly successful full run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this summer, where it garnered enthusiastic acclaim from both audiences and critics alike, Ascension is set to make its much-anticipated London debut.

In 1725, Leendert Hasenbosch was marooned on Ascension Island, having been found guilty of the crime of sodomy while aboard a ship. Struggling to survive against the island’s harsh terrain, he documented his growing isolation and descent into madness through haunting diary entries. Dan Hazelwood adapts Lee’s diary and intertwines it with original writing to reclaim Leendert’s story for a modern audience.  Against the backdrop of his life in Holland as a boy and his global travels leading up to his eventual death at the age of 30, Ascension explores the enduring struggle for acceptance, love, and survival. It tells a heart-rending story of queer identity from centuries ago that can be felt just as keenly today.