You start out starring in the story of your own life,
only to find you’ve become a bit part player in everyone else’s.
Marcella’s awakening happens in her mid-sixties when a botched eBay order forces her into the loft and prompts the de-cluttering of a lifetime.
Faced with artefacts that provoke a host of vivid memories, Marcella embarks on an unpredictable and unexpected journey through her past. Choosing what to hold on to and what to let go of brings her close to a full-blown late life crisis.
But surrounded by seemingly discarded objects and aspirations, Marcella begins to feel strangely alert and starts to wonder if she is still allowed a dream or two…
Mary Lincoln who wrote and stars in the play, says: “Lockdown was for me both a tragic and a creative time; a time when I suddenly became aware of my own mortality and realised that if I had something else to say creatively, I’d better get off my backside and do something about it! I had been writing a one woman play about an historical figure, on and off, for about ten years and was totally bogged down in the research. It was on one of our 2 metre apart walks on Peckham Rye that Sam, my son, suggested I park someone else’s history in favour of my own. But who was going to find anything about me interesting?! Perhaps I could channel a little of my own experience to create a character; one that might express the tensions that arise between an everyday life as a wife and mother and the demands and pulls of an acting career. During the writing process I fell upon some more universal questions around how we balance our essential practical needs with our souls’ creative needs, how both are intrinsically linked and what can happen if one is ignored in favour of the other. I hope I’ve written something that also throws up some bigger thoughts about the reasons for creative denial and its consequences.”
Directed by Mark Tildesley
Jack Studio Theatre, 410 Brockley Road, London, SE4 2DH. Tues 24 – Sat 28 September 2024. Time: 7.30pm. Admission: £16, £14 concessions (14+)
Booking: www.brockleyjack.co.uk or 0333 666 3366 (£1.80 fee for phone bookings)
