Ilo thinks she's about to save lives. Oli thinks they're about to be saved. Two letters arrive on the same day, leading them both into a labyrinth that stretches even their overactive imaginations, and turns everything they thought they knew about themselves upside down - in all the wrong ways.
COMPLEX unpacks the Kafkaesque phenomenon of being told you are “too complex” for complex trauma treatment. Calling on sci-fi, nonsense poetry, melodrama and music where realism just isn't real enough, we might have to sing to you once or twice - but only when we really don't know what else to do.
A Response Ability Theatre production
Written and directed by Nell Hardy from a co-created process with Alain English, Jezebel, Lona Lee, Ana Nagurnaja, Claire Reay, and others who have chosen to remain anonymous
Cast: Phil Bayes, Alain English, Lisa Harbron, Jezebel, Lona Lee, Yuxuan Liu, Ana Nagurnaja, Lata Nobes-Sinha, Claire Reay, and others who have chosen to remain anonymous
Scenography by Lona Lee
Additional lyric-writing support from Alain English
Co-produced by Nell Hardy and Claire Reay
In partnership with The PATHWAY Study: Developing and evaluating a new care pathway to improve outcomes for people with complex trauma, based at Kings College London - funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), co-led by Dr Angela Sweeney and Prof Steve Gillard, with a Lived Experience Advisory Group facilitated by survivor-led organisations Survivors Voices (headed by Jane Chevous) and Little Ro (headed by Roz Etwaria).
Running time: approx 90 minutes
There will be an opportunity to reflect with the cast and crew for a short time after each show.
