We're raising money to help cover basic production costs for our Edinburgh Fringe debut with our rip-roaring feminist comedy, In the Lady Garden. Every single donation we receive is very much appreciated.
'Elderly ladies should find a nice, gentle little hobby' they said.
So, Babs Horton (70) wrote the outrageously funny play, 'In the Lady Garden', directed by Deborah Edgington (63) and performed by Julia Faulkner (62) who plays the part of Alice plus 21 other characters in a virtuoso performance.
Left to right: Deborah (director), Babs (writer) and Julia (actor).
PLAY SYNOPSIS
The play centres on Alice, who at age 69, wonders what her life might have been if she hadn't been expelled from convent school and had sex with Keith from the sausage rolls section.
Will Alice shake off the shackles of the patriarchy and live out the rest of her days with outrageous abandon?
You can find out in what has been described as a 'rip-roaring feminist comedy'.
OUR STORY SO FAR...
It was the summer of 2021 when we first discussed bringing 'In the Lady Garden' to the stage.
Eighteen months later, with the support of the Theatre Royal Plymouth, 'In the Lady Garden' had four performances in The Lab, which to our surprise SOLD OUT immediately.
Now, three years on, we are absolutely thrilled to announce 'In the Lady Garden' has been selected as one of the seven Edinburgh National Partnership shows supported by the Pleasance, in association with the Theatre Royal Plymouth. This means we are heading to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this summer! We are chuffed to bits and fizzing with excitement.
Never, in our wildest dreams, did we ever expect to be making our Edinburgh Fringe debut at our time of life!
We are so grateful to both theatres for believing in us. Their support is a huge endorsement for older women, whose empowering stories are rarely seen on stage. This feels like a pivotal moment in theatre.
WHY WE WOULD LOVE YOUR SUPPORT
• There is nothing else (as far as we know) like 'In the Lady Garden' currently touring or going to Edinburgh this summer.
• We are a unique theatre company made up of three women over 60 breaking all the stereotypical rules on ageing.
• Rarely have women over 60 been known to take up brand new careers in theatre, let alone take a show to Edinburgh for the very first time.
• Older women rarely see themselves portrayed on stage, especially as a strong central character, but our play does exactly this.
• Women are the primary ticket bookers and make up nearly two-thirds of UK theatre audiences. We know from all the feedback we've received that women want to see their own stories, or ones they can relate to, played out on the stage.
• Ageism is rife within the arts yet we are doing our best to defy the odds by boldly breaking down barriers to age and sex discrimination at a time when most women our age are looking to retire.
• People of all ages often feel that they’ve missed the window to follow their dreams. We would like to inspire and reach out to those people, to prove that the phrase, ‘it’s never too late’, isn’t just a cliché, it’s a call to action.
• 'In the Lady Garden' is also very relevant to young women today who are having the same conversations that their mothers were having since the 1960s.
• In 2022, only 26% of all writers in UK theatre were female. 'In the Lady Garden' is written, directed and acted by women.
THE LADY GARDENERS - WHO WE ARE
Babs Horton - the writer
Babs was Head of English in an adolescent psychiatric unit where she witnessed the power of literature in enhancing the experiences of fragile young people helping them challenge their thinking and move forward in their lives. She has seven published novels, her debut, 'A Jarful of Angels', won the Pendleton May First novel award and was shortlisted for Authors Club First Novel Award.
Her first play 'Wings' was longlisted for the Bruntwood prize and 'In the Lady Garden' was performed in October 2022 in the Lab at Theatre Royal Plymouth. She has just completed her third play, Goose.
Babs is a writing fellow for the Royal Literary Fund and has worked as a practitioner for Theatre Royal Plymouth, running writing workshops for the People’s Company and Acting Up.
Deborah Edgington - the director It was eleven years ago when Deborah swapped her desk job at a regional theatre, where she had worked for almost ten years, to take up a place on the directing course at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama at the age of 53. It was a bold move. But a year later, aged 54, she co-directed her first professional play, 'Muswell Hill' by Torben Betts. The production went on to transfer to the Park Theatre in Finsbury and received four-star reviews.
Since then, she has gone on to direct the original production of 'In the Lady Garden', and in London her directing and co-directing credits include 'My Children! My Africa!' including its transfer to the West End's Trafalgar Studios; 'African Gothic'; 'The Son of a Precariat' and closer to home in Hampshire, 'The Seagull' and 'A Streetcar Named Desire' for which she received a best director nomination in the 2013 Daily Echo Curtain Call awards. In 2008, she co-founded one of the UK's first national writing festivals, 10x10, which she ran for ten years, and in 2019, she co-directed her first opera, 'La Boheme'. Her work has regularly garnered five and four- star reviews.
www.deborahedgingtondirector.com/
Julia Faulkner - the actor Julia graduated from The Guildford School of Acting in 1983. In her early career she performed both in the West End and on tour in the UK. She took a break from acting to raise her children and did a degree with the Open University and joined the Workers’ Educational Association, where she organised ESOL and English classes.
Julia returned to her acting career in her forties and appeared in musicals, comedies, dramas, pantomimes, and weekly rep.
Favourite roles include Alice in 'In the Lady Garden', Granny in 'Gangsta Granny', Sheila in 'Relatively Speaking', Ranyevskaya in 'The Cherry Orchard' and Bawd/Dionyza in 'Pericles'.
Julia has recorded audio books, appeared in TV commercials, TV shows and short films - most recently playing Nurse in the award-winning short film, 'A Matter of Choice' (2023). In 2023 Julia directed a new play, 'Dal Segno' at Theatre at The Tabard.
PERFORMANCE DATES:
PREVIEWS: 18, 19 & 20 July at The Drum, Theatre Royal Plymouth (one of the country's largest leading regional theatres).
EDINBURGH FRINGE FESTIVAL: 31 July to 26 August at Bunker One, Pleasance Courtyard (one of Edinburgh's most popular and iconic venues during the Festival).
Tickets are now on sale at both venues.
PRODUCTION COSTS
Producing a play is unbelievably expensive.
We need to try and raise £10,000 to cover our basic production costs to take our show to Edinburgh.
If you would like to help champion older women in theatre, then please support us (and in doing so you can become part of our extraordinary trailblazing story).
We fully recognise times are tough at the moment, which is why we are asking you to please donate whatever you can. Every single donation we receive is really, really appreciated.
Breakdown of our costs
In addition, we would be grateful if you could please help us spread the word; tell your family and friends about the show or better still, come and see us in Plymouth or Edinburgh. We'd love to say hello.
Thank you so much from The Lady Gardeners - Babs, Deborah and Julia x