When It Happens to You

August 7, 2024

31st July – 31st August 2024

If you have been unlucky enough to experience trauma in your life, you will know how it can change everything in a split second. You will be aware of how all-consuming it can become and how you can never go back to the person you once were. You can only hope that you will learn to live with it, but you will always bear that scar.

In the case of Writer Tawni O’Dell, When It Happens to You is an account of her real-life experience that not only affected her daughter but the whole family. She describes the writing of this story as a way to make sense of what they were experiencing.

Director Jez Bond acknowledges that bringing a story such as this to the stage comes with responsibility and obligations to both the creative team and the audience, and indeed there was both mental health support (Applause for thought) and a production well-being practitioner (Victoria Abbott) available for the cast throughout the duration of the production. If only the BBC could take note, given the recent controversy surrounding Strictly Come Dancing and this production’s leading lady Amanda Abbington. The parallels of victim blaming did not go unnoticed, and some of Abbington’s celebrity supporters were present in the audience to cheer her on.

“When It Happens to You is raw, real and powerful”

The simple but effective set comprises white backlit screens providing a backdrop to neon tubes and strip lighting denoting the outlines of a New York skyline. The sparsity of the stage design ensures we focus purely on the performance and the lighting (designed by Sherry Coenen) and sound (Melanie Wilson) complement each moment down to the second.

A sexual assault changes a family’s life forever and we follow the fall out over the next couple of years. We are witness to distraction therapy, denial, heavy drinking, references to drugs, attempted suicide and relationships falling apart, however, through all this come moments humour, hope and love without losing the seriousness of the subject matter.

Rosie Day shone as Esme, the young girl at the centre of the storyline and owner of Owen the cat. Her slight frame and introverted posture helped shape the vulnerability of her character, and she perfectly portrayed someone trying to live each day after an incident with an element of normality whilst quietly dying inside.

Esme’s mother Tara, played by Abbington, delivered an emotional performance wearing her gender-neutral beige shirt, brown slacks and heavy shoes (costumes by Zahra Mansouri), with hands in pockets and slicked-back hair. Abbington drew us brilliantly into the world of a mother trying to protect her only daughter, whilst being pushed away by the very person she is trying to help. Her soliloquy that concluded the play, where we learn of her character’s own story, appeared to come from the heart. It was moving and sobering, delivering some shocking statistics.

Miles Molan as Connor (Esme’s brother) and Tok Stephen portraying many roles were both superb. Molan’s character — a gifted college student who turned down the Ivy League schools — can do no wrong in his mother’s eyes and gets frustrated by his sister’s behaviour, whilst Stephen’s police officer provides some light relief.

When It Happens to You is raw, real and powerful. It will resonate with anyone who has experienced irreparable damage, and may make those around them more aware of the impact an event such as this has on someone’s life.