Francesca Joy’s debut play, You Forgot the Mince, is a raw and compelling portrait of an intense, passionate and ultimately abusive relationship that spirals out of control with unexpected consequences.
Drawn from personal accounts and interviews with victims and perpetrators, this gritty piece of new writing embarks on a UK Tour to theatres and prisons this autumn.
Rosa lives with her grandma Lily. She’s just finished college and can’t wait to leave Yorkshire and all the people in it … until she meets Niko.
They fall head over heels in love and the future looks bright. But their love for each other is tested to the limit; Rosa leaves for London, Niko ends up in prison and Lily won’t stop baking cakes. Everyone’s world is falling apart but no- one’s talking about it. How are they going to get their lives back on track?
Directed by Stephen Whitson (The Last Five Years at The Lyric Theatre, Belfast; Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens at Criterion Theatre, London; Little Women at Old Rep Theatre, Birmingham), You Forgot the Mince is a moving exploration of love, loss, cause and effect.
The play tells the story of an intense relationship with humour, choreographed movement and music.
Playwright Francesca Joy comments, This is my first full-length play and I feel a million different things at once; it’s a bit like having my own little pot of magic. You Forgot the Mince is vested in truth, and with truth there is the opportunity for change. If it changes even one person’s life for the better then the play will have been a success for me.
The You Forgot the Mince tour is accompanied by a tailored participation and outreach programme compromised of drama-based workshops. These will be delivered to educational establishments, probation services and community centres, engaging with hard-to-reach audiences who have little experience of the arts. Through the workshops the participants are empowered to use drama as a tool to express themselves, tell their own unique stories and have the opportunity to get involved with the arts separately through Imagine If’s other projects.

The show entered a research and development stage later in 2014, which included three months of research: interviews and focus groups with ex-offenders, counselling groups for men who have a history of abusing women, victims of domestic abuse, prisoners, prison officers and probation workers. This also included spending time with Cardboard Citizens, Clean Break and a weeklong training course with Safe Ground at the National Offender Management.

You Forgot the Mince is supported by Arts Council England.

The show will be playing at Hope Mill Theatre on the 27th October.

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