First published in 2019 by Oberon Books Ltd
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Copyright Ava Wong Davies, 2019
Ava Wong Davies is hereby identified as author of this play in accordance with section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. The author has asserted her moral rights.
All rights whatsoever in this play are strictly reserved and application for performance etc. should be made before commencement of rehearsal to Independent Talent Group Ltd, 40 Whitfield Street, London, W1T 2RH. No performance may be given unless a licence has been obtained, and no alterations may be made in the title or the text of the play without the authors prior written consent.
You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or binding or by any means (print, electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
PB ISBN: 9781786829276
E ISBN: 9781786829269
Cover image Xiao Lu
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Acknowledgements
This play would not exist were it not for the following people.
To Helen Morley the most sensitive and empathetic director/partner-in-crime I could ever hope to work alongside. Thank you for pushing me when I needed to be pushed, for picking me up and dusting me off when I was down, and having such unwavering faith in this story from its very messy beginnings. Youre a dream.
To Emily Davis the hardest-working person I know. Youre simply the best. Thank you for coming on when you did, for pushing us to apply to VAULT in the first place, for writing innumerable applications, for always being calm and collected in a crisis. For dealing with our (my) bullshit with a firm yet loving practicality. There would be no show without you.
To Aoife Hinds and Tuyen Do thank you for your generosity and playfulness, for your time and your patience. And to Rosa Escoda and Kailing Fu, our OG duo your help in developing, realising, and embodying these two women was completely invaluable.
To Clara Potter-Sweet, Jordan Rice, Ben Kulvichit, Grace Venning, Jamie King-Cox, Zara Janmohamed, Amanda Fleming I cant thank you enough for all the work and effort you put into making this show bigger and better than I could ever imagine. I am floored by your talent, hard work, and creativity.
To Xiao Lu, whose art has inspired us from the very beginning. Thank you for giving us permission to use your work.
To all the people who have shown me and this play encouragement and kindness over the last two years Lara Tysseling and The Yard, Georgie Straight and Will Adolphy, Emma Blackman and Theatre Deli, Lynette Linton, Emma Noelle Clark, Lilian Tsang, Gill Greer and VAULT Festival, Ross Hunter, Lulu Raczka, Alice Birch, Daniel York Loh, Stewart Pringle, Grace Gummer, Matt Maltby, Jessi Stewart, Serena Grasso and Oberon, Wei Ming Kam, Prime Theatre, Broccoli Arts and the whole Before I Was A Bear team, and of course Chris Sonnex, David Ralf, and everyone at The Bunker thank you all.
To my friends for showing up and showing out, for giving it (and me) your time, your love, and your energy. Thank you.
And to my family for whom this is for, and without whom none of this would ever have been possible. Im so grateful for your constant love and support.
i will still be whole (when you rip me in half) was first performed at VAULT Festival on 27 February 2019 with Kailing Fu as Joy and Rosa Escoda as EJ. It then transferred to The Bunker Theatre on 12 November 2019. Cast and crew were as follows:
TUYEN DO Joy
Credits include: Kings of Hells Palace (Hampstead Theatre); Pah-La (Royal Court); The Great Wave (National Theatre); Enola Holmes (Legendary Pictures).
AOIFE HINDS EJ
Credits include: Normal People (BBC/Hulu); Derry Girls (Channel 4); The Feed (Amazon).
AVA WONG DAVIES Writer
Ava Wong Davies is a playwright and theatre critic based in London. As an arts writer, she is a regular contributor to Exeunt Magazine and The Stage, and is a monthly columnist for gal-dem. As a playwright, her work has been showcased at The Yard, The Bunker, Theatre Deli, the North Wall, and VAULTS Festival. She was a member of the Soho Theatre Writers Lab 18-19, and is currently part of the Bush Theatres Emerging Writers Group.
HELEN MORLEY Director
Helen Morley is a theatre director and facilitator interested in developing new work that is formally playful and socially engaged. She has collaborated with Ava on i will still be whole (when you rip me in half) since its very first iteration in 2017. She is the current Young Director at Prime Theatre in Swindon, making work for and by young people in schools, community and youth theatre settings.
EMILY DAVIS Producer
Emily Davis is a theatre producer from Somerset, specialising in devised and experimental performance. She regularly collaborates with Emergency Chorus, This Noise and Poltergeist theatre companies. She also writes criticism for Exeunt Magazine, and works as a theatre administrator at Farnham Maltings.
GRACE VENNING Designer
Grace is a performance designer from London. She was a resident design assistant at the National Theatre from 2018 to 2019. In 2019 she was a finalist for the JMK Award with Jocelyn Cox, and for the inaugural Naomi Wilkinson Award for Stage Design with Told by an Idiot. She graduated with a First Class BA (Hons) in Design for Performance from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in 2017.
Design credits include: If Not Now, When (National Theatre: Dorfman); Before I Was a Bear, FCUKD (Bunker Theatre); Time of Listening (Snape Maltings); Opera Scenes (Guildhall School of Music and Drama); La bohme (Clonter Opera); Semele (Mid Wales Opera tour); The Death of Ivan Ilyich (Attic Theatre Co.); Stop Giving Me Grief (from the Forest Festival); Masti Maja (Sansaar Theatre Co.); The cosmonauts last message to the woman he once loved in the former Soviet Union; Road (Bute Theatre, RWCMD).
CLARA POTTER-SWEET Dramaturg
Clara Potter-Sweet is a dramaturg and theatre-maker from London, making and collaborating on experimental performance. She is co-founder of award-winning theatre company Emergency Chorus (Beguiling and enchanting work,
