Sam’s eighteen and her life’s about to start. Zoe’s forty-something and hers never did.
They don’t have much in common. Just a love of 80s’ new wave, and an illness that wants them dead. Thrown together in an eating disorder unit, their most intimate secrets exposed, they form a complicated bond. When another patient turns the ward into chaos, they face questions that dictate their survival. Most of all: how to navigate an institution that keeps you safe inside but unable to cope outside?
Grippingly authentic, incisively witty and profoundly compassionate, Laura Waldren’s remarkable debut won the Papatango New Writing Prize from 1,468 plays. It follows past Prize discoveries which have won Olivier, Critics’ Circle, Evening Standard and OffWestEnd awards and transferred to over 30 countries.
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Running time
2 hours 35 minutes (including interval) -
Age guidance
14+ -
Content warnings
Reviews
"Astonishing debut, utterly gripping, hugely entertaining"– The Telegraph
"Powerfully affecting, strong and empathetic"– The Stage
"Simply remarkable"– Broadway World
"Incredibly rich, deeply moving and powerful"– Theatre Weekly
"Excellent performances, dark humour, powerful"– Everything Theatre
"A gem of a play"– The Spectator
"Searing"– The Guardian
The Company
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Sirine Saba
Zoe
Sirine Saba
Zoe
Sirine trained at RADA. Theatre includes A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Beauty and the Beast, Midnight’s Children, The Tempest, The Winter’s Tale, Pericles, A Warwickshire Testimony and Tales from Ovid (RSC); Word Play, Goats, The Crossing Plays and Fireworks (Royal Court Theatre); Phaedra, Another World, Nation and Sparkleshark (National Theatre); Britannicus (Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith); Romeo and Juliet, The Winter’s Tale, King Lear, Holy Warriors and Antony and Cleopatra (Shakespeare’s Globe); Why It’s Kicking Off Everywhere and Tales From Ovid (Young Vic Theatre); The Haystack, Botticelli in the Fire, The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism With a Key to the Scriptures (Hampstead Theatre); Wife (Kiln Theatre); The Invisible (Bush Theatre); The Winter’s Tale, The Taming of the Shrew, Twelfth Night and HMS Pinafore (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre); Next Fall (Southwark Playhouse); The Fear of Breathing (Finborough Theatre), Scorched (Old Vic Theatre); Testing the Echo (Out of Joint/Tricycle Theatre); Baghdad Wedding (Soho Theatre); and Rogers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (Bristol Old Vic). Film includes The Black Forest (nominated for the Michael Powell Award at the Edinburgh International Film Festival), Maestro, Exhibition and Death of the Revolution. Television includes Beyond Paradise, Midsomer Murders, Doctor Who, Holby City, Cleaning Up, Why It’s Kicking Off Everywhere, EastEnders, Unforgotten, Silent Witness, Doctors, I am Slave, Footballer’s Wives, Prometheus and The Bill. Sirine has also recorded a large variety of work for BBC Radio drama, Radio 3 and Audible.
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Amy Beth Hayes
Leanne
Amy Beth Hayes
Leanne
Theatre includes Linda (Royal Court Theatre) and her own play Cracked (Vault Festival; Evening Standard pick of the festival). Film includes Prisoners of Paradise and The Power. Television includes Mr Selfridge; Gandhi; Three Little Birds; Flack; Bridgerton; Action Team; Timewasters; Love, Lies and Records; Agatha Raisin; The Syndicate; Lilyhammer; and Shameless.
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Hannah Saxby
Sam
Hannah Saxby
Sam
Hannah trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, graduating in 2024. Film includes The First Two. Television includes Gentleman Jack; Holby City; Malory Towers; and Shakespeare and Hathaway.
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Witney White
Nazia
Witney White
Nazia
Theatre includes Wuthering Heights (National Theatre/Bristol Old Vic); Light Falls (Royal Exchange Theatre); Nof*cksgiven (Vault Festival); A Christmas Carol, Sylvia and A Monster Calls (Old Vic Theatre); Room (Theatre Royal, Stratford East/Dundee Rep/Abbey Theatre); Wonder.land (National Theatre); Dusty (Charing Cross Theatre); and Loserville (West End). Television includes DI Ray; Father Brown; Holby City; Cleaning Up; and Doctors.
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Leah Brotherhead
Mara
Leah Brotherhead
Mara
Theatre includes Wuthering Heights (Wise Children/National Theatre/USA Tour); Gulliver’s Travels (Unicorn Theatre); Lands and The Kitchen Sink (Bush Theatre); As You Like It (The Lamb Players); Two Gentleman Of Verona (Shakespeare’s Globe/Liverpool Everyman); Wolf Hall/Bring Up The Bodies (Aldwych Theatre/The Winter Gardens, Broadway); Another Place (Theatre Royal, Plymouth); Pride and Prejudice (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre); Dr Faustus (West Yorkshire Playhouse/Glasgow Citizens Theatre); and People Like Us (Pleasance Theatre). Film includes The Interview and Jess/Jim. Television includes Hullraisers; Death In Paradise; Whitstable Pearl; Bridgerton; Zomboat; White Gold; Boy Meets Girl; Casualty; Drifters; Doctors; and Vera.
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Joshua James
Mike
Joshua James
Mike
Theatre includes Shooting Hedda Gabler (Rose Theatre); The Vortex (Chichester Festival Theatre); The Glass Menagerie (Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester); Yellowfin (Southwark Playhouse); Wife (Kiln Theatre); Lady Windermere’s Fan (Vaudeville Theatre); Life Of Galileo (Young Vic); Platonov, The Seagull, Here We Go, Light Shining In Buckinghamshire and Treasure Island (National Theatre); King Lear and The Tempest (Shakespeare’s Globe); Fathers and Sons (Donmar Warehouse); The Ritual Slaughter of Gorge Mastromas, No Quarter and Love And Information (Royal Court Theatre); and Wolf Hall/Bring Up The Bodies (RSC). Film includes Cyrano; Darkest Hour; and Criminal. Television includes The New Look; Andor; Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?; The Ipcress File; I Hate Suzie; Life; Industry; Black Mirror; Absentia; Mcmafia; and Raised By Wolves.
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Laura Waldren
Playwright
Laura Waldren
Playwright
Laura Waldren is a writer and actor from Hull, and a current writer in residence for Pentabus Theatre. Some Demon is her first full length play. Her debut screen work, This Is Hell, which she co-wrote and starred in, won the Pilot Light TV Festival and screened at the BAFTA and BIFA-qualifying Bolton International Film Festival. As an actor she recently appeared in the critically acclaimed second series of I Hate Suzie.
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George Turvey
Papatango AD/Director
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Chris Foxon
Producer
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Papatango Theatre Company
Producers
Papatango Theatre Company
Producers
Papatango Theatre Company is an Olivier Award-winning champion of new playwrights. Named in The Stage 25 as industry leaders, their world premieres have won Olivier, Critics’ Circle, OffWestEnd, Alfred Fagon, South Bank Sky Arts and Royal National Theatre Foundation awards and transferred to over 30 countries. Their artistic director was awarded the 2022 Genesis Foundation Prize for his work launching new talent.
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Anisha Fields
Set and Costume Designer
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Rajiv Pattani
Lighting Designer
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Asaf Zohar
Composer and Sound Designer
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Iben Bering Sorensen
Stage Manager
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Jamie Craker
Assistant Stage Manager
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Pete Rickards
Production Manager
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Lewis Champney
Assistant Production Manager
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Beth Qualter Buncall
Costume Supervisor
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Matt Carnazza
Programmer and Prod LX
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Ranjith Devakumar
Therapist and Wellbeing Advisor
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Kate Morley
Press Representative
This production is supported by
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Amazon Literary Partnership
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Boris Karloff Charitable Foundation
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Backstage Trust
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Foyle Foundation
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The Wingate Foundation
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The Golsoncott Foundation