Acclaimed play explodes into life for one night only

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An acclaimed new play telling a deeply personal story of love and loss from writer/performer Bella Heesom & Olivier Award winning director Donnacadh O’Briain comes to King’s on Thursday, April 26, at 7.30pm, following a national tour.
Bella Heesom’s bold writing debut My World Has Exploded a Little Bit explores the beauty and agony of confronting grief in an increasingly secular society in this darkly comic and unflinchingly honest play about how she dealt with the deaths of her parents.

Following critical and audience acclaim at the 2016 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, a transfer to London’s Vault Festival that was Highly Commended by the Awards Committee, and a national tour in 2017, My World Has Exploded a Little Bit will be staged in the Vanbrugh Theatre

Part true story, part farcical performance lecture, this bittersweet show is a refreshing mix of tender intimacy, live music, hard-hitting philosophy and clownish silliness. Heesom bravely lays herself bare while presenting an increasingly absurd ‘Logical, Philosophical Guide to Managing Mortality’. She is joined onstage by Eva Alexander, who plays her hapless assistant; a mischievous, clown-like character who ineptly demonstrates the awkward, sometimes comical realities of patient care, and sings inappropriate songs about brain tumours.

The show has a multimedia design by Elizabeth Harper, featuring projected text and dreamlike animated sketches, and is supported by an enchanting live piano score composed by Anna O’Grady.
Beneath the comedy, which is as black as it comes, is a heartfelt and heart breaking story, which is really connecting with audiences.

‘I’ve been blown away by the response,’ says Heesom. ‘People laugh a lot, and they cry a lot. I was so struck by the audience reaction to the first performance in Edinburgh, that ever since then I’ve been offering hugs to everyone at the end of each show. A lot of people seem to really need it.’

Heesom is keen to break the taboo around death and open up a conversation, and has been inspired by people sharing their own stories with her after seeing the play. She recently delivered a popular TEDx talk at Newnham (the Cambridge university college where she studied philosophy before training as an actor at LAMDA) titled Why It’s Rational to Be Emotional, in which she discusses her experience of making the play, and how it helped her appreciate the value of emotion in our lives. She hopes the emotional roller coaster she takes audiences on with the show will help people to connect with their own feelings.
Book your tickets here

REVIEWS:
★★★★★ ‘sublime’ ToDoList
★★★★★ ‘profound and stunning’ EdFestMagazine
★★★★★ ‘breathtakingly beautiful – a must-see.’ ViewsFromTheGods
★★★★ ‘It’s funny, it’s charming, it’s absurd, and it’s very poignant. Highly recommended.’
BroadwayBaby
★★★★ ‘Spine tingling’ LondonCityNights
★★★★ ‘brave, personal and moving’ TVBomb
★★★★ ‘funny, energetic, profound and heart breaking all at once’ ThreeWeeks
★★★★★ ‘We need more radical honesty and honest artistry of the kind that Bella Heesom
offers. She has created something very powerful indeed.’ – Edinburgh Spotlight