Set in the notorious 18th Century lunatic asylum that gives the play its name, Bedlam is the story of how a cruel and unusual institution starts to crumble, after the arrival of an unassuming country girl.Nell Leyshon’s new play is an anarchic tale of madness and sanity, authority and incarceration and the arbitrary lines that separate them.Full of violence, romance and reverie, Bedlam made history in September 2010 when it became the first ever production by a female writer to be staged at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.