3 Years, 1 Week and a Lemon Drizzle examines the relationship between two sisters and how their close bond was affected when one of them was diagnosed with a severe eating disorder as a teenager. Recalling touching memories, laugh-out-loud anecdotes and Mars bars, this searingly frank and painfully funny two-hander examines what it’s like to live with a loved one and their mental illness.
Alexandra (The Suffragettes With Lucy Worsley, BBC One); When We Died, Bruntwood Longlist 2017) and Kate Donnachie (Carlton Hobbs Award Runner Up 2018, The Choir: Gareth’s Best in Britain) bravely share their heart breaking but hilarious memories of growing up together and managing their close bond through a difficult time.
When Alexandra (finally) decided to ask Kate what ‘that time’ was like for her, she immediately began cooking up ideas for this autobiographical show – albeit before Kate agreed to be in it. Had their relationship been affected? How had it changed? Were they closer or more distant?
Alexandra Donnachie comments, “For two years, I had been making and developing a one woman show about living with an eating disorder but something always felt off even when people said nice things about my work. Eventually, I realised what didn’t sit well with me; there were already loads of fantastic one woman shows looking at incredible women and their stories. One day I was in a restaurant with my younger sister when she spoke about a day at school when she had broken down under the stress of having an ill sister at home. I could – and probably should have – comforted her and asked her more about this in order to support her. Instead, I saved asking her to elaborate until I had a dictaphone under her chin a few weeks later. Soon after our conversation about what it was like for her during my illness, 3 Years, 1 Week and a Lemon Drizzle was born”.
3 Years, 1 Week and a Lemon Drizzle seeks to show the powerful bond that endures throughout mental illness and reinforces the enduring message – you are not alone.
3 Years, 1 Week and a Lemon Drizzle is at Underbelly McEwan Hall (Jersey)
