Playwright Cordelia O’Neill was born in Peckham until, aged five, her parents moved to the countryside. ‘I moved back to London in my twenties and haven’t left,’ she tells me, adding, ‘I could think of nowhere else I would rather live; the diversity, the culture, the different lives that have trodden the city make it a very hard place to leave. I love London, it really is my home.’ Cordelia will soon have her fifth play produced at Southwark Playhouse, writes Michael Holland.
Theatre has been in Cordelia’s blood all her life, so it is very important to her. ‘It demands more of our brain than other forms of entertainment, it demands our full attention, the reactions and emotions you feel are instant. I always leave theatres feeling a little wiser,’ she says forcefully in case I was thinking about suggesting an opposing view.
And there is a family connection – Her uncle was the director James Menzies Kitchin, who died tragically aged 27. ‘I am now a trustee to the charity that was set up in his name, the JMK trust’ she says.
When at drama school Cordelia was given an exercise to write monologues and then perform them. ‘My teacher at the time suggested I keep writing, and so,’ she smiles, ‘five plays later, here I am.’
But like so many creatives who have that worry of being found out, Cordelia is the same: ‘Every time a play of mine goes on I always think it will be the last. So far, I haven’t had a last, (touching all the wood) so I suppose I never think of myself as a writer. Not in the way we think of a ‘writer’. It’s a romantic idea, one that I wish I could manifest, but in reality, I do a lot of teaching, a lot of parenting and not enough writing. When I get a couple of free days in a row I will head to my favourite coffee shop and spend all day writing, and in those moments, I feel like a writer and it’s heavenly.’
I pressed for more. And got it. ‘It’s not easy, every time I begin writing I think, this is it, this is what will show me as the fraud I am, I won’t be able to do it. But somehow, every time I get there… It’s the hardest thing, but it’s addictive and when I begin to create a world with people in it, I feel I owe it to them to finish and persevere.’
Cordelia wrote her latest play, Anything Is Possible If You Think About It Hard Enough, after supporting her friend through a difficult pregnancy. She pauses for a moment. ‘The thought of anything happening to the baby sent me on a deep, dark Google search where I uncovered so much I didn’t know about pregnancy, about birth and about baby loss. I wanted to write a play that helped us understand the subject more and hopefully help those we know and love who are struggling.’
I asked if it was difficult to write. ‘It came quite easily at first, then, after the birth of my first daughter, I struggled. I think, knowing what it was that I could lose, and the weight of the grief that parents have when they do lose a baby, stopped me from being able to connect as easily; my mind just didn’t want to go there.’
How did you get through that barrier? ‘In many ways that struggle made the play better and my connection deeper. It’s an important story because it’s a story that is not normally told because of the tragedy of the topic, so I had to do what I ask my audience to do, which is get through the sadness of it, persevere and understand the characters of Alex and Rupert in order to tell the most truthful and honest story I could.’
Will audiences be able to get through that barrier? ‘I think, if anything, the last year has taught us how resilient we are. To those who are worried about the subject matter, I urge you to come. Us humans have the wonderful ability of empathy and heading to the theatre and seeing a play like Anything Is Possible If You Think About It Hard Enough, is an opportunity to put that ability into practise. So many mothers and fathers are affected by baby loss and are often suffering in silence, this play and you coming to watch it is stopping that silence and hopefully making someone’s grief a little lighter.
I’m definitely going to be there.
Southwark Playhouse, 77-85 Newington Causeway, SE1 6BD from 22 September – 9 October. Times: 8pm, matinees 3.30pm. Admission: £22, £18, £14.
Box Office: 020 7407 0234 – www.southwarkplayhouse.co.uk
Photos: Taz Martin
