To Rose on her 18th Birthday - R&D @ The Barbican

Aim

Funding the final stage of development of a theatrical love letter to my daughter about living joyfully with cancer at Barbican Open Lab '26

In a nutshell…

I started this piece on my daughter’s first birthday. I was in the middle of cancer treatment, and didn’t know if I would live long enough for her to remember me.

For the past seven years, I have kept writing, eventually turning this into a solo show called ‘To Rose on her 18th Birthday’.

This summer, I will be spending a week as an artist in residence at the Barbican’s Open Lab.

This workshop is the final development stage to get the project ready for rehearsal, and hopefully production next year.

I’m raising money to cover essential rehearsal costs to deliver this workshop.

I would be so grateful for your support, either by contributing financially or helping us get visibility with likes and shares. Thank you!

About me

I’m a playwright, poet, and performer who has shared my work at the Southbank Centre, Barbican, Old Vic, and Bush Theatre. My poem-plays have won awards from the Soho Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company.

I’m also a two-time cancer survivor and single mum.

I’m particularly passionate about interdisciplinary collaboration, turning real life into drama, and making space to tackle subjects that might normally be considered taboo by approaching them with heart and humour.

What this piece is about

This is an autobiographical solo show that is a love letter to my daughter’s future self.

Rose was only seven months old when I was first diagnosed with cancer. I have a genetic mutation that puts me at increased risk for cancer, and I don’t know whether I’ll be here when Rose is eligible to learn if she too carries this gene.

This show is an attempt to reach forward in time to hold her hand.

It’s about what we leave behind for those we love, and how we live joyfully in the face of uncertainty.

If you love someone who has been touched by cancer, this show is also for you.

A little preview

 Here is how it begins… 

Dear Rose,

You were born on the longest day of the year, when the sun could barely bring herself to leave the sky. At the peak of her arc, you turned your face up to the world and made your entrance, arriving just in time for lunch.

We had expected a Gemini baby, but your due date came and went, and through some conspiracy of my body and yours, you remained firmly inside. 

You were born the day the sun moved into Cancer.

Review from Everything Theatre on 2024 Barbican performance: “The most moving piece of the night… exquisitely performed… a powerful message about ultimately finding the joy in life, and the personal empowerment in accepting what can’t be changed.”

Why now

The most important factor for me is my health. I don’t take for granted how fortunate I am to be well enough to make this show, and I want to make it while I am able to.

We are at a particularly critical step for the project, because it’s the final step of workshop needed to get the show ready for a full production next year.

So far, my work on this piece has been most heavily focused on the writing and performance. But this is a chance to explore how the technical elements also help tell the story.

We’ll be working with movement, sound design, projection, and archival image to bring the script to life. Understanding how all these pieces fit together will set me up to make the final piece.

The facilities at the Barbican are exceptional, and provide the ideal platform to explore what the piece is, and what it could be with the extraordinary team that have come on board.

The week will end with an industry sharing to help us build connections to the theatre companies and producers that will enable us to take the piece forward. I’m also including guests from charity partners related to cancer to help increase the reach of the piece.

 Development to date

• 2019 – Wrote first draft of letter that becomes basis for piece
• 2020 – Finished cancer treatment; Funded by Peggy Ramsay Foundation to create first draft of script; Project developed on HighTide Playwright Support Programme, mentorship from Morgan Lloyd Malcolm
• 2021 – Cancer returned, went back into treatment
• 2022 – Rewrote script from scratch, including experiences from second treatment journey
• 2023 – Finished cancer treatment (again); joined CRIPtic Arts Launchpad programme; received DYCP grant from the Arts Council to develop my practice as a performer
• 2024 – Funded by Peggy Ramsay Foundation for new draft; shared excerpt at Cockpit Theatre with Every Other Mother; workshopped at Kiln Theatre; performed 20 minutes of show at Barbican with CRIPtic Arts
• 2025 – Assembled creative team; wrote Arts Council application; completed script rewrites
• 2026 – Selected for Barbican Open Lab (one week R&D with industry sharing); Additional workshop days at the Kiln

The team

• Director – Bronagh Lagan (Olivier Award Nomination of ‘Best New Play’ for Cruise; 10 Off West End Award nominations for Best Director)
• Producer – Alfie Joe Sanders for ALJO Entertainment (graduate of National Theatre Producer’s Course)
• Dramaturg – Jamie Hale (Artistic Director of CRIPtic Arts, Offie Award Winner, Sky Arts Award Finalist, Jerwood Poetry Fellow)
• Movement Director – Cathy Waller (award winning Choreographer and Movement Director, working for nearly 2 decades in contemporary dance and theatre, including BBC, Tate Modern, & National Theatre)
• Projection Designer – Matt Powell (acclaimed Video Designer across the West End, Off-West End, Regionally and Internationally)
• Sound Design – Eamonn O’Dwyer (Associate of Royal Academy of Music, Winner of the Black British Theatre Award for Best Sound Design 2025)
• Photographer – Julia Forsman (Editor Lead at Stocksy United, Resident at Grayson Perry’s House for Artists)
• Assistant Director – Teenie Macleod (Associate Director on National Tour of Dolly Parton’s Here You Come Again)
• Open Lab Mentor - Inua Ellams MBE (Fringe First winner, Barber Shop Chronicles @ National Theatre, currently touring An Evening With An Immigrant)
• For the Barbican: Producers Mrinmoyee Roy, Tom Titherington, and Andrea Laing

Why I need your support & what it funds

I’ve lived in the UK for nearly two decades, and I have never experienced a more difficult time for arts funding. I am hearing stories of it taking 8 to 10 tries for a successful Arts Council application (each of which had about a 3 month turnaround period).

I’ve applied for funding twice for this project; most recently there was no criticism of the application, only a reply that they did not have sufficient funds.

This Barbican opportunity is time sensitive – my Open Lab slot is this summer – so I’m turning to my community to help make this project happen. I’ve secured around a third of the budget, but I need to make up the shortfall to pay the team and core costs.

Your contributions will cover essential costs including creative team, travel & transport, set & costume expenses, and access support.

There are additional elements I would love to include if the budget is possible. Anything raised over this base amount will be channelled directly into the project and its future life.

How I’m saying thank you

I will be grateful for every bit of support – be that financial help or cheering us along, or social media likes and shares!

I’ve tried to put together rewards that can acknowledge how thankful I am – all themed around roses. :-)

I tried to create one reward tier that would be like buying a ticket to one of my shows (even though this show doesn’t technically exist yet). For people supporting at the Stem level and higher, I’m going to be hosting an online sharing of the work created during this week, and offering those folks a taste of the piece and a peek behind the scenes.

Hopefully soon I will be able to bring the production to a theatre near you. (If you are wondering whether I have future ambitions to bring this to America as well as the UK, the answer is YES.) 

You are wonderful

If you are reading this, I’m grateful to you.

Thanks for being part of the web of community that has kept me and my little girl going for the past eight years. Life has been a rollercoaster, but I have been continually amazed at the kindness of other humans and the beauty of this world.

I can’t wait to make this show to tell you all about it.

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 28th August 2026 at 1:25pm