Tapestry
What audiences are saying...
"Beautiful and life affirming​"
"What a fabulously heart warming play, totally brilliant..."
"It was amazing - so well-crafted and performed with empathy, humour, poignancy and vigour."
"The play needs to be seen again and again.
Beautifully written characters. Powerful and moving"
"Tapestry is extremely well written: also ‘crafted’ in a way… it beautifully encapsulates the themes of friendship, empowerment and community… the play needs to be shown in every community, everywhere!! Incredibly powerful and moving!"
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Tapestry is a new play about female friendship. It follows the story of a group of older women sewers. When the group get notice that the community space they've been meeting in for the last 20 years is going to close, and a much younger new joiner wants to join, they decide to make a stand in the way they know best... sewing. But there's a price to community in this world...
Tapestry is a love letter to togetherness in a world that's making it harder and harder to gather. It is a celebration of the power of women-led spaces to heal, empower, protest and bring joy. It was inspired by time spent with women stitchers, who stitched a protest banner for the play. Tapestry was commissioned by Milton Keynes-based theatre company Play's the Thing. It premiered at MKGallery in March 2022, headlining the Taking the Stage Festival.
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"This place?
It can't help but breathe life into you..."
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Three older women dance in a community centre. One wears a yellow T-shirt that reads "living my best life", another has a pink birthday sash on and a tiara. A "Happy 70th birthday" banner is pinned to a corkboard behind them. Everyone is smiling with absolute joy.
Thank you to...
Cast Marlene Sidaway, Judith Jacob, Tricia Kelly, Lilly Driscoll (Covid cover Safiyya Ingar)
Director Yasmeen Arden
Assistant Director Lou Corben
Dramaturg Lisa Cagnacci
Movement Director Rachael Nanyonjo
Designer Victoria Maytom
Stage Manager Elske Waite
Creative captioning Megan Lucas
Quilt workshop leader Jane Charles
Stitchers & Makers Jane Charles, Elizabeth Wickham, Angela Finn,
Deborah Cooper, Deb Shann, Anne O'Brien, Frances Fox, Sheena Fewell, Karen Williams, Judy Rapp, Chris Small, Sue Chopping, Margaret Eyres, Yvonne Elliott, Jo Armitage, Kirsty Ternent-Field, Cheryl Montgomery, Diana Tyjberg, Marilyn Rudd, Louise Labelle, Emma Phillips, Heather Minall-Woodwards, Jo Underwood, Val Blomley, Wendy Edwards, Sandra Kirby, Alison CFC, Hazel Dott, Hazel Dolling, Brenda Rae, Charlotte Dixon, Sammy Brown, Gill Bell, Janet McCook, Sue Watson, Janet Bradley, Helen Avery, Kim Charmers McDonald, Sheena Fewell, Kim Jeffrey, Val Davie, Paula Davie, Alison Skelton, Christine Sythes, Hazel Rixon
Producer Play's the Thing Theatre
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"We might not have voice.
But we still have our Tapestry.
Our document of our existence."
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We are looking to tour Tapestry in 2023 - to theatres and community centres. If you are interested in finding out more about Tapestry or to book this show, please email me, and I will put you in touch with our brilliant producers.
Four women hold one another smiling. They are (from left to right): Doris, a white woman in her 80s, yellow T-shirt, and baby blue cardi; Jan, a black woman in her 70s, wearing a black top and jeans; Mich, a white woman in her 70s, wearing a long blue and white dress; and Amber, a 24 year old mixed race Asian woman, wearing a hoodie. Amber holds a packet of biscuits to her chest. Behind them on a white board is the word "Future".
A huge colourful protest banner is lifted up by a community cast of women. The words "Save our Palace" are sewn onto the banner.
Jan stands in a coat and scarf, her head slightly bowed. The light falling on her is purple, and bar-like shadows are thrown on the set behind her.
Four women hold one another smiling. They are (from left to right): Doris, a white woman in her 80s, yellow T-shirt, and baby blue cardi; Jan, a black woman in her 70s, wearing a black top and jeans; Mich, a white woman in her 70s, wearing a long blue and white dress; and Amber, a 24 year old mixed race Asian woman, wearing a hoodie. Amber holds a packet of biscuits to her chest. Behind them on a white board is the word "Future".