Devon Playwright on a Mission to Amplify Queer Voices in South West region debuts her new script in Bristol
A dishevelled Christian and a chain-smoking Marxist. One epic battle to have the final word on a relationship that didn’t happen.
Conceived by Torbay-based playwright Holly Fitzpatrick, LAVENDER is a furiously funny, feminist play about fighting for authorship over a shared past with someone you don’t speak to anymore. Lucy and Nancy traverse gender, faith, politics and sex in a soaring narrative which offers two conflicting, crude, and chaotic histories of growing up in the South West.
Recently shortlisted by BBC Writersroom, LAVENDER began its development at the University of Exeter before being programmed for the Exeter Fringe Festival in 2021. The team, all connected to Devon, toured an early version of the play in 2022, visiting Theatre Royal Plymouth, Exeter Phoenix and Exeter Library and receiving funding from Arts Council England. LAVENDER was also programmed for VAULT Festival in 2022, ahead of a transfer to the award-winning Omnibus Theatre in Clapham, South London. Now, the team is returning the play home to its South West roots.
Fitzpatrick is a playwright, facilitator, and theatre maker with a focus on queer themes. She is passionate about making powerful theatre experiences accessible to young people, no matter where they have grown up. Alongside her writing practice, Fitzpatrick works as an Associate Artist at Doorstep Arts, a non-profit arts education organisation working with children and young people in Torbay.
On LAVENDER, Holly Fitzpatrick says: “I am so delighted to share LAVENDER at the Wardrobe Theatre. Thanks to our incredible community of South West artists, audiences and organisations, I’ve seen the play grow into something so much bigger than I could ever have imagined. We have become a movement of queer creativity, amplifying LGBTQIA+ stories and artists in a region where we are too often without a platform.”
The 2021 Census revealed that over 1.3 million people in England and Wales identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual. South West England had the lowest percentage of people who said their gender identity differed from their sex registered at birth. LAVENDER aims to work with venues to bring authentic, inclusive representation to queer and trans people in the South West.
The Wardrobe Theatre is a fringe studio venue and thriving arts hub in the heart of Bristol showcasing the best theatre-makers, companies and artists from around the UK since 2011. Their programme is a mix of theatre, comedy, storytelling, live music, poetry/spoken word, dance, puppetry, cabaret, drag, improvisation, new writing and family shows, with an emphasis on emerging artists and South West-based work.
LAVENDER arrives in Bristol to debut their updated script on 8th February 2023. The event includes a script-in-hand reading, with an introduction by the team and a short post-sharing discussion. Casting is to be announced shortly.
