Written and directed by Christopher Saul
Produced by Christopher Saul in association with Kick In The Head
It's 1969 and a woman looks back on her life in London. From the Boer War to The Summer of Love, Flo Smith, daughter, sister, wife, mother, widow and grandmother recalls with horror, humour, tears and joy those turbulent times at home and in the world beyond her front door.
Future dates (click on the link below each date to book tickets)
27 May 2021 Quay Theatre, Sudbury, Suffolk ***POSTPONED - NEW DATE TBA***
Past dates
30 Apr 2017 Union Church, Crouch End, London (First Public Reading)
25 Feb 2018 The Bear Pit, Stratford upon Avon
8 Apr 2018 Union Church, Crouch End, London
26 Aug 2018 Camden Festival, The Gatehouse, Highgate, London
16 Sept 2018, The Bear Pit, Stratford upon Avon
14 April 2019 Vera Fletcher Hall, Thames Ditton, Surrey
18 May 2019 Friends of English Theatre, Cordes-Sur-Ciel
23 June 2019 Theatre Upstairs, Clapham, London
1 Sept 2019 Drayton Arms, Old Brompton Road, London
2 Sept 2019 Drayton Arms, Old Brompton Road, London
15 Sept 2019 The Tower Theatre, Stoke Newington, London
29 Mar 2020 The Astor, Deal, Kent ***CANCELLED***
5 April 2020 Cryer Arts Centre, Carshalton, Surrey ***POSTPONED - NEW DATE TBA***
10 May 2020 South Hill Park Arts Centre, Bracknell, Berks ***POSTPONED - NEW DATE TBA***
7 Aug 2020 Sarah Thorne Theatre, Broadstairs, Kent ***POSTPONED - NEW DATE TBA***
8 Aug 2020 Sarah Thorne Theatre, Broadstairs, Kent ***POSTPONED - NEW DATE TBA***
22 Aug 2020 Quay Theatre, Sudbury, Suffolk ***POSTPONED - NEW DATE TBA***
19 Sept 2020 Bell House, Dulwich, London (OA) ***SOLD OUT***
3 Oct 2020 Cotswold Playhouse, Stroud, Glos ***POSTPONED - NEW DATE TBA***
Production background
It was 1969. I was a drama student in my final year, casting around for a subject for my dissertation. I hit on the idea of interviewing and recording the reminiscences of Florence Smith, my paternal grandmother. "Nanny Smith" was happy to oblige and so, for several days in the Spring of 1969, I sat in her cosy living room at number 36 Richie House, Hazelville Road, North London, drinking copious amounts of tea and listening avidly while spool after spool of my tape recorder was filled with her recollections.
Florence told me of her Victorian childhood, her marriage to a young man who was later seriously wounded in the First World War (my grandfather), her struggle to put food on the table for her hungry children in the 1930s, and her harrowing experiences of the London Blitz.
For the times, it was a common enough story and yet, for all that, a unique one too,
as unique as any human being's life.
Using the original transcripts, and working closely with actress Ursula Mohan,
a first draft of the play was formed in 2017. It has been worked on continuously since,
into the now highly acclaimed production touring the UK.
Christopher Saul
Florence 'Flo' Smith - Ursula Mohan
Ursula started her career aged 15 at Wimbledon Theatre before winning a scholarship to train at The Webber Douglas and she has been a working actress ever since! This February (2019), she appeared at The Vaults Festival in GIRLS, a new production which joins the award winning BOYS and will tour in various venues including the Latitude Festival.
Last year, she was Ellen in There or Here (Park Theatre) and before that, Lily in a tour of You Forgot the Mince at The Edinburgh Festival, in London, and inside several prisons! In 2016, she was a female King Lear (Tristan Bates Theatre) in a revival of the award winning and acclaimed 2014 production. Other recent work includes Hecuba (Scoop), Sarah in Horniman’s Choice (Finborough), Nancy in Elegies (Criterion), Mrs Goulding in The Veil (National Theatre) and Mrs Fox in Dads Army (UK Tour).
Her many past theatre credits include Ala in Tango directed by Trevor Nunn and Peter Brook's US for the RSC, Emilia in Othello (Regent’s Park), Mitzi in A Murder is Announced (Vaudeville), Liz in Revenge (Royal Court), Lucretia The Cenci (Almeida), the title role in The Good Woman of Setzuan (Hampstead), Sandy Beige in Making Tracks (Greenwich - written and directed by Alan Ayckbourn) and in leading roles in most regional theatres.
Her many radio, film and television performances include most recently Doctors and - in the distant past - Joyce the cockney clippie in many episodes of On the Buses.
She lives in South London with her husband, theatre and opera director Ian Watt-Smith. Their daughter, Tiffany, an academic at University of London, has recently published her third book, Schadenfreude, and has reached well over a million viewers with her TED talk on emotions. Their son Tom, a documentary maker, recently wrote and directed Drowning in Plastics for the BBC. Ursula also has four wonderful grandchildren aged 5 and under!
Author and director - Christopher Saul
Christopher Saul trained at The Rose Bruford College. Theatre productions include over 20 productions with The Royal Shakespeare Company including the recent production of Imperium at Stratford-upon-Avon and in the West End. Parts have ranged from Ebenezer Scrooge to King Lear. TV includes Emmerdale, Doctors, Dr Who, The Professionals, One Foot in the Grave and in 2 series of the BBC soap, Triangle. Films include Wilt and Sahara. Christopher is a Helen Hayes Award winner 2013 for his roles in The Shakespeare Globe's touring production of Hamlet.