A Table Read Recording: There'll Be Bluebirds by Lauren Shirley

There'll Be Bluebirds by Lauren Shirley

‘There’ll be Bluebirds’ is an exploration of the battles we fight at the beginning and end of our lives, witnessed through the eyes of a 100 year-old-man as he faces a long, monotonous stretch of time in hospital. Based solely on the true-life accounts of Ted Adcook, a soldier who lived through the Second World War, the play looks at the fine line between memory and delirium as, within the bland walls of the hospital, it grows more difficult to discern what are reminiscences and what is not. Moreover, when your everyday becomes so unnaturally repetitive, what happens if your memories start to appear more real? The play embodies the joy and struggles of a life spanning decades, that even in the face of a never-ending fight, it is important to not only hold onto hope but to treasure every experience you get. Drawing parallels between his young adulthood spent fighting in the war, his active social life as an old man, and his final hospital stay, ‘There’ll be Bluebirds’ analyses how we look back on our lives and how, in the end, time wins every war.

"There'll Be Bluebirds" focuses on the end of life treatment in hospital which may be upsetting for some people.

CAST

Ted: Robbie McDonald

Gwen: Barbara Saxberg

Young Ted: Toby Baddeley

Peter: Hjalmar Norden

Betty: Eleanor Healing

Female Ensemble 1: Arielle Zilkha

Female Ensemble 2: Grace Heap

Male Ensemble 1: Nathan Chatelier

Male Ensemble 2: Petri Stefanescu

Male Ensemble 3: Shelby Lynhall

Run time: 4hrs 3mins.

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Please note that this is just a table read and by no means a completed script, nor a full production. You will also be given an opportunity to provide feedback to support our writers. Details are provided later.