How To Make a Mess: A Totally Unauthorised Love Letter to Nigella Lawson will make its full-length debut this summer at Upstairs at the Gatehouse in Highgate.
The new musical will run from Thursday 4 June to Sunday 28 June 2026, with a press night scheduled for Tuesday 9 June.
Written and composed by Emily Rose Simons and directed by Grace Taylor, the production is described as a joyful celebration of cooking, chaos and learning how to nourish yourself.
Produced by Tanya Truman Productions in collaboration with Chromolume, How To Make a Mess explores grief, choice and the stories held within everyday recipes.
The show follows Anna, played by Natasha Karp, who inherits Nigella Lawson’s seminal cookbook How to Eat following the death of her estranged mother.
Alongside the book comes an imagined version of Nigella herself, portrayed by Tanya Truman, who guides Anna through grief, comfort and personal change one recipe at a time.
Cooking becomes a means for Anna to reconnect with herself, letting go of rigid rules and discovering how small, everyday decisions can open the door to something bigger.
Previously titled Becoming Nigella, the musical has been developed through work-in-progress sharings at Oxford Playhouse, The Other Palace Studio and Manchester Jewish Museum.
Emily Rose Simons said: “This show is a love letter to Nigella Lawson. I was inspired by the way her cooking embraces grief, memory, home and pleasure without apology. Nigella’s philosophy is not about restriction, but about embracing what you choose to bring into your life, and that idea has profoundly changed how I live.”
She added: “Through Anna’s journey, I wanted to explore how cooking can reunite us with ourselves, give us permission to want deeply, and help us build a life that feels nourishing rather than prescribed.”
How To Make a Mess has a running time of two hours including an interval, with ticket prices ranging from £18 for previews to £27 in the final week.
Listings and ticket information can be found here.
