Emma-Louise Howell’s I Really Do Think This Will Change Your Life to premiere at Mercury Theatre
Colchester’s Mercury Theatre has announced the world premiere of I Really Do Think This Will Change Your Life.
Award-winning writer Emma-Louise Howell’s debut play will run at the venue from 27 October – 4 November 2023 at the Mercury Studio.
The female-led Mercury Original production, which will be directed by Hetty Hodgson, is a hair-pulling, fake-nail scratching, cat-fight against what it means to be a Girl Boss™.
Belles was the popular girl, the IT girl, the oh-so-very-fit-girl. When she was 17. Now, she’s 24 and spends her days bossed about by her Mum and the girls she 100% used to bully.
So, when a life-changing opportunity slides into her DMs, she carpes the diem, finds her tribe, makes her millions and proves the worth of women worldwide one Instagram post at a time. Except she doesn’t. Because…come on.
Emma-Louise Howell, who was longlisted for the BBC Writersroom and will star in the one person show as Belles, developed her debut play as part of the theatre’s Playwrighting Development Programme.
Alongside Hodgson and Howell on the creative team are: Lulu Tam as design, Matt Powell as video designer, Martha Godfrey as lighting designer, Holly Khan as sound designer & composer and Tara Young as movement director.
The production team for the world premiere, which is Arts Council England funded, is comprised by 50% neurodiverse creatives.
Emma-Louise Howell said: “I’m beyond excited to be able to call the Mercury the home to my professional writing debut. It feels like a nearly impossible climate for new writers at the moment, but writing I Really Do Think after being selected to join their Playwriting programme with Kenny Emson in 2021 pulled me out of a pandemic slump and, since then, their never-ending support and encouragement through readings and redrafts has given me the courage and confidence to make this the boldest and most playful version this show could possibly be.
“And it’s turned into a truly riotous play; yes, it’s been fun to write about Girl Bosses and Pyramid Schemes, but it’s also been a chance to really capture and navigate the precariousness of our identities in the social media world and how, amidst all the duplicitous information we consume, we can maintain authenticity in ourselves and our relationships – it feels like new territory to tread and it’s a real privilege to now be able to share that world and story with audiences.”
For more information and tickets, visit www.mercurytheatre.co.uk
