Hope Theatre Archives - North West End UK

My 19-year-old son has a teddy, or should I say a rag that used to be a teddy; I also had a favourite teddy (shh, I’ve still got him in a drawer at home), and for most of us, it is the first possession that we learn to care for. Stitches, turns the story around, and the teddy becomes the narrator/obsessive observer of Chloe the baby, Teddy’s baby, and the story is born at Chloe’s birth. Teddy was bought as a present for Chloe, and Teddy has rejection anxiety – will Chloe want me? Am I cute enough? He needn’t have worried, Chloe immediately cuddles him and squeezes his ear - the beginning of a life journey together! Written and performed by Jonathan Blakeley, this play is an exploration of commitment, to love someone through the good times and the bad. It’s...

Since I started writing for North West End UK, I’ve spent longer than the average person sitting in small theatres above pubs watching plays about mental health. This suits me down to the ground – I like theatre, I like pubs, and I’m really delighted that we live in a society where mental health is being explored through the arts. To my mind, this can only lead to better understanding, greater empathy, higher quality conversations, and ultimately more support. I have the utmost respect for people who are brave enough to write about or portray their own lived experience onstage, and I will keep supporting this movement to create safer spaces and common points of reference for those conversations. All that aside, Happenings didn’t have the profound effect on me that the synopsis suggeste...

Tag: Hope Theatre

Stitches – The Hope Theatre

Happenings – Hope Theatre