Play about adoption reunion coming to London this March
Booking now open for a new play about adoption reunion, Giving Up Marty. I’m very much looking forward to seeing this play performed in London, especially as I supported the playwright Karen Bartholomew to get crowdfunding back in the autumn.
Two identities, no identity, identity shattered - the adoption conundrum.
Joel is found by his birth mum and sister. He’s only eighteen and scared.
Identity means a lot, particularly to a teenager. His life is about to change forever.
Until now he’s just known Mum, Dad and his sister. Life is safe, settled and secure. Yes, he’s been curious about his origins but no more than that. As he turns eighteen, much to everyone’s surprise, it’s Martha, his birth mother and Melissa, his birth sister who come looking for him. The events that follow, leave Joel embroiled in a family history, that changes his life and identity forever.
There’s long been a fascination with blood ties and those broken, reunited and reshaped. Adoption reunion is epic and complex in nature and never easy, but it's this unease that needs to be heard.
Motormouse Productions presents Giving Up Marty, a brand new play by Karen Bartholomew. Spare and gutsy, it takes no prisoners.
'This important piece of theatre! It truly represents a ‘slice of life’ that often is not presented or explored.'
'Anything that demystifies adoption is good thing.'
'It is not something that is ever going to disappear from our western nuclear family societal structure. I do not have any friend who does not know someone who is one of those characters.'
'You don’t often see this stuff on stage/film/tv that deals with so many sides of the adoption story.'
Previous work
London Pub Theatres ★★★★ ‘Poignant, funny and beautifully accurate’
Everything Theatre ★★★★ ‘Many theatre lovers have missed this gem of a play that deserves more exposure'
Remote Goat ★★★★ 'Death explored in a brave way'
Scotsman ★★★'Neville has a bright eye for what, in the early seventies, passed for neat ideas and natty outfits, dressing her set with the kitschiest of tastes and peppering her monologue with some great one-liners... '
The Stage ★★★ 'Both writing and acting are well observed and Neville keeps up a strong rapport with her audience'
ABOUT THE COMPANY
Motormouse Productions is a female-led company based in the South East. We tackle challenging topics with a political, social and cultural flavour, always injecting humour where it counts. Our work seeks to engage and benefit local communities wherever possible.
We have toured and performed in new writing festivals, London fringe and regional theatres. In 2017 our play 'God's Waiting Room' told the story of two sisters dealing with their mother’s impending death. We connected with hospices, death cafes and the NHS, who went on to commission performances and bespoke theatre for their end-of-life services. We have steadily built a reputation for authentic and robust theatre created in Kent. Our work has kindly been supported by Arts Council England, Unity Theatre Trust, Kent Arts Investment Award and the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation.
