A bold and touching new piece of theatre. Writer & Performer: Ashleigh Laurence | Director: Chris Yarnell | Producer: Lydia Harrison
Featuring music from the 27 Club, a massive whack of northern humour, a bit of stand-up, and a lot of heart, Tumours is a brand new, one-woman, feminist, dark-comedy show.
It’s a tender and darkly-comic portrayal of a young woman, Jay, grappling with the reality of her family’s cancerous genepool whilst considering what in her life may have led her to feel a little bit too comfortable with the idea of dying before she turns 28.
But this isn’t a suicide fantasy. Not really, that’s really not funny.
It’s a very real – and sometimes surreal – depiction of what can happen to the way a woman views herself after experiencing a turbulent home life, bereavement, constant objectification, icky interactions, unhelpful parenting and abuse of trust from those who should know better.
It’s a story that looks at the paradoxical nature of the female reproductive system, how all at once it can be an area that gives us so much pleasure and simultaneously so much pain; how it can produce life yet be the cause of some of the most untimely of deaths.
This is a love song to women, to Sheffield and most importantly – at least to our protagonist, Jay – a love song to the music of the 27 Club.
After a sold-out run at Tristan Bates theatre as part of Maiden Speech festival 2018, we are so excited to bring this unique, touching, and hilarious show to Assembly Rooms at Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2019, but we cannot do it without coming cap in hand and asking for your help!
“I just wanted to write and say how impressed I was – it was such an unusual piece, managing to be both hilarious and deeply moving, and wanted to pass on my admiration for Ashleigh as both a writer and a performer.” – Jodie Adams, Assembly Festival
After performing Tumours in 2018, I was so overwhelmed by the number of women who approached me to say that they had felt like the process of getting a smear test and what can, and very often does, follow had affected them. For some reason – and I guess it falls in line with how women have been taught generally to STFU about their vaginas – there seems to be a stigma attached to discussing how these procedures feel and make us feel.
They are an invasion – a life saving one – but an invasion no less. They can make us feel violated, like we’ve been punched in the ovaries, like we don’t want to move and like we just want to get the whole system ripped out (or is that just me?)
Cis-men too seemed pretty blown away by what women have to go through on a relatively regular basis – or very regular, if you’re like me and have a cervix that just keeps on wanting to get prodded (three smears, two colposcopies and one LLETZ treatment in three years, BOOM!)
– Ashleigh Laurence, Writer/Performer, Tumours
You all sound awesome and this show sounds like something people should definitely spend some of their hard earned cash on!
Great! Glad you agree. :)
*Gets out mini violins (yes plural, we’ve got a fucking orchestra)*
The three of us adore this play and want you to adore it too. We want to entertain you and to make you laugh and feel all of the feels. Sadly, this comes at a huge cost – a massive, smack-in-the-face one. And one that we can’t afford on our own.
We need £1,255 to help us put on this show for the full Edinburgh Festival Fringe run and the money we raise from this Kickstarter will go towards our full budget of circa £4,000. Yikes! Scary.
We are also working tirelessly, every minute when we’re not working on our passion project (this!), in multiple jobs at all hours, to try and get ourselves there.
OK, ok I get it. I’ll give you some dosh. But where’s this money going?
Fair question. We’re only raising for a small proportion of our total costs, the rest we hope to raise through other fundraising event and, *fingers crossed*, ticket sales. We’ve got an amazing venue at Assembly Rooms and are tirelessly contacting every media outlet we can think of to drum up excitement.
So. Money details. We hope to cover the following costs from this Kickstarter:
…. And that’s just the minimum. Without even thinking about accommodation or marketing! We’re really lucky in that we don’t have to pay for rehearsal space and we’re all foregoing getting paid in order to be there and make the most of this opportunity.
So on that note, please know that whether you can chuck us a fiver or make a more weighty contribution, every single donation is wholeheartedly appreciated and we are so, so grateful.
Thanks again and we hope to see you there or at a theatre near you soon! A, C & L xxx
There are hundreds of shows produced at the Edinburgh Fringe each year, so the competition is fierce. However, we are confident that Tumours has a distinct and unique voice that will encourage people to attend. Besides, it’s more important to have a happy audience than a full one – bring on the risks and challenges!