This play is for the carers looking after loved ones when the system has let them down, for anyone who has loved someone that is difficult to love, and for people that use laughter to survive the difficult days. This play is for you.

We can all fall into the trap of thinking that our experience is unique, special, different to everyone else and that no one could possibly understand what we’ve been through. But the truth is we are all human, and all as heartbroken and loving and ridiculous as each other. The experience of being a young carer is not unique, nor is that of suffering with mental health- I wrote this play to shine a light on these experiences that can often feel unseen and isolating.

This play follows two siblings who are trying to build independent adult lives while caring for their mother, who has a diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder. Although the circumstances of Liam and Darcy’s story are specific, I hope their experiences feel recognisable to anyone who has ever felt torn between duty and freedom, love and frustration, or who has found themselves becoming the person everyone else relies upon.

This play explores family, mental health, love and survival through a lens of honesty, compassion and dark humour. I’m interested in the ways laughter can coexist with pain, and how humour can help us connect, cope and carry on, even in life’s most chaotic moments.

Creating this play has been an extremely collaborative process, crafted through  scratch nights, writer’s workshops, interviews, research, rehearsal and my own experience. It now holds multiple people’s stories, ideas, creativity and heart.

I hope you see a little of yourself here, and I hope you squeeze your loved ones a little tighter tonight!

Sophie