Today October 10th 2019 is World Mental Health Awareness Day and I deliberately chose this date to open my new show Stone's Throw, Lament of The Selkie.
The show is about many things- it's semi autobiographical- touching on my own experience of trauma and symptoms of PTSD- it's rooted in folklore, myth and the stories of outsiders, it's peppered with real life verbatim recordings from women in Wales and across the world who contributed their thoughts on identity and experiences of motherhood- its a show that celebrates the power of art to challenge and help to heal, but ultimately it is a show about stories...
There is something so profoundly stirring
and deeply humanising in the connections we make through stories. As a singer songwriter, I’ve been
sharing stories through song for over 20 years, but this is my debut (as a
writer and performer) in Gig-Theatre. In 2017, I wrote a 10 part blog series
exploring my experiences of injury, birth trauma and post-partum health issues.
I was both moved and intrigued when I began to receive messages from women who
had resonated with my experiences and wanted to share their own stories with me.
It was these responses that spurred me to create this show. Birth trauma and post partum health issues are
too often the stories that go untold, still often regarded as taboo. I had
already touched on many of these themes in my 2015 Stone’s Throw, Lament of the
Selkie, album release, but felt that there was still so much that I could do to,
reach further into these ideas. Having anchored the initial narrative in
autobiography, the medium of theatre has enabled me to expand my own story,
blurring fiction and reality in order to create a space
to give voice to diverse yet often
untold stories that women experience.
For more info on the show and to book tickets please visit: