The Mercury Theatre in Colchester will welcome two acclaimed plays this month after successful runs at Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the Fringe First award-winning My Mother’s Funeral: The Show and the return of I Really Do Think This Will Change Your Life. Both plays have been written by alumni of the Mercury’s talent development programme, supporting creatives with structured mentoring, masterclasses, networking and peer development opportunities.
Kelly Jones’ new play My Mother’s Funeral: The Show, a Paines Plough co-production with Mercury Theatre, Belgrade Theatre, Landmark Theatres and Royal & Derngate Northampton, will run in the Mercury’s Studio from 17-21 September. The play, which received a Fringe First Award during its Edinburgh run, is directed by Paines Plough’s Joint Artistic Director, Charlotte Bennett, with the cast comprising of Samuel Armfield, Debra Baker and Nicole Sawyerr.
Abigail’s mum is dead. But it turns out she can’t afford her to be.
Did you know how expensive it is to die? It’s £4000 for the funeral. Extra for flowers. And even more if you want sausage rolls. Otherwise, she will get a council funeral and an unmarked grave.
Then, when a theatre suddenly pulls out of Abigail’s new project, she is asked to write about something else. Something more raw, from her ‘unique working class lens.’ Something that will make the audience feel really, really bad about themselves. Audiences like that, apparently.
Yep. To afford the funeral, she has to write about her mum.
With power and playfulness, Kelly Jones’s new play tackles the inequalities around death, and the cost of turning your loved ones into art.
I Really Do Think This Will Change Your Life by award-winning writer Emma-Louise Howell and directed by Hetty Hodgson will return to the Mercury following a critically acclaimed run at the Edinburgh Fringe run. The play is a hair-pulling, fake-nail scratching, cat-fight against Rich Quick Scams and what it means to be a Girl Boss and was a The Stage Innovation Award 2024 finalist for its bold, immersive video design in a fast-paced multi-disciplinary show. The Mercury Theatre is an Associate Producer of this production and originally commissioned the play.
Belles was the it-Girl, hip girl, oh-so-very-fit-girl.
When she was 17.
Now, she’s 24 and spends her days bossed about by her Mum and girls she 100% used to bully.
So, when a life-changing opportunity slides into her DMs, she carpes the diem, makes her millions and proves the worth of women one social media post at a time.
Except she doesn’t.
Because… come on.
Dilek L. Latif, Senior Producer, Mercury Theatre, says: “We’re delighted that these productions have had such successful runs at the Edinburgh Fringe and can’t wait for them to arrive at our Studio. They are both a testament to our Mercury Playwrights talent development scheme where we’re committed to supporting local playwrights and developing their work from page to stage. There is so much creative talent in the East and we love to think of the Mercury’s Studio as a home for local artists.”
Tickets for both productions are on sale at www.mercurytheatre.co.uk
