And I’ll Blow Your House Down

The story

My name’s Georgie Steele and I’m an award-winning theatre maker, a storyteller and a carer.

All my expectations of family life were completely changed when my two sons were diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a degenerative muscle-wasting condition.

It felt like the Big Bad Wolf had blown my house down. Suddenly everything was an absurd mess of endless appointments, health and safety nonsense, and offers of help that didn’t help, and I was an unpaid carer.

But as I struggled to rebuild our family life, I started to wonder who, or what, was the Biggest Baddest Wolf? Was it my sons’ medical condition, or the ‘support’ systems that society constructs around people with disabilities and their carers?

(original image with kind permission of geraintlewis.com)

The Show

So I’ve made a theatre show, And I’ll Blow Your House Down (winner of the Brighton Fringe Award for Inclusion 2023), about our family experiences. Within the show I also tell the tale of the Three Little Pigs, a sensible fairytale counterpoint to my own farfetched but true story.

My aim is to open up these issues to the general public, engaging their attention through a performance that is accessible, honest, funny and beautiful. 

“wonderfully written, with equal measures of heart and humour”
Paul Simpson, Oxford Playhouse

"Phenomenal. Exquisite storytelling ... GO SEE IT!"
Hooky Productions

(original image with kind permission of claireemmabrooks.com)

The workshops

I’m committed to empowering others to share their stories. Over the last year, I’ve been working with unpaid carers in Oxfordshire, facilitating ‘The Shortest Distance’, a true-life storytelling project funded by NHS England and Carers Oxfordshire (see video below for an example of the work we did).

At each fringe festival, I’ll continue this work by offering storytelling workshops, and will be forging links with local carer groups to encourage them to take part.

What we want to achieve and why we need your help

As well as raising awareness, my specific aim for this year is to work at getting the government to publish a new National Carers Strategy, to protect and recognise unpaid carers and their rights.

I need your help because I’m still an unpaid carer, so I can’t fully fund this tour myself. The total cost of the tour will be over £4000, of which I’ve found £2000.

Why it’s important

As our population ages, more and more of us are becoming carers for family and friends. The work done by unpaid carers in the UK has the same worth as a second NHS (£162 billion a year).

The extensive and continuous cuts to services for unpaid carers and for disabled and older people means carers have to spend most of their time fighting for help and support. Many of them are on the verge of collapse. If we don’t care for the carers, we aren’t supporting the people they care for either, and we are putting them all in an unsustainable position.

So please help me to tell my story through my show, and support others to do the same, to bring this huge issue to public attention.

Thanks so much for your support!

(original image with kind permission of geraintlewis.com)