“The Glad Game” by Phoebe Frances Brown

Nottingham Playhouse.

Phoebe is an actor. Phoebe is an actor from Nottingham.

From her early days in the Television Workshop in Nottingham to grown up roles at the National Theatre, the Donmar Warehouse and New York Theatre Workshop, acting has defined who and what she is.

In November 2018 Phoebe was diagnosed with an incurable tumour in the area of her brain that controls speech, language and memory. How cruel fate can be when all you want to be is an actor where the tools of the trade are that of speech and memory to be targeted by a tumour that decides to settle right on those very areas that an actor depends on. Thankfully Phoebe F***ing Brown did not let this little thing called cancer stop her from doing what she loves. Of course I am joking, this is no little thing. It's a frightening thing. It's a life changing thing and Phoebe lives with this every day.

Finding a new way to talk about cancer can’t be easy but Phoebe tells it as it is with warmth and humour, and gives a wonderfully descriptive breakdown of what it is like living with Cancer, especially when you are so young, just 28 years old. This is ongoing for Phoebe, it’s her life.

“The Glad Game” is Phoebe’s Story: of finding herself in the bleakest of times, of discovering gladness in the saddest of moments and about how who and what you love can pull you through. Phoebe gives you permission to laugh and she also gives you permission to cry, because in the story she tells, you get the opportunity to express both ends of the emotional spectrum.

I loved the descriptions of her family and friends, the people she meets and works with, all being painted in your mind, creating pictures that you can build up to make an image of these people so important in Phoebe's life.

There is plenty of music as a backdrop to how she is feeling at that time of her life she is describing, and you can be feeling on a happy high only then for Phoebe to deliver a hammer blow, knocking you off kilter. The intense joy of bagging the acting job she had wanted so bad, only for the tumour to rear its' ugly head just at the wrong time, almost jeopardising her chances. But this is Phoebe Brown and she is a badass. She ain't gonna let this get in the way of her dream job. And you know what? It doesn't.

Her descriptions of what was happening inside her head, the six hours in the Queen's Medical Centre waiting areas, the sights and sounds that maybe we would not notice so much, so clearly relayed to the audience. the noise and feelings of being inside the bowels of the brain scan machine, and of course the horror of what Phoebe was experiencing inside her head when the tumour decided to strike.

I found Phoebe's recollections inspiring, as well as humbling, and a lesson that we should all take on board. I, like many people, may let something trivial stop us in our tracks, but after tonight, seeing and hearing Phoebe, I'm going to rethink certain actions when they arise and work around them.

Listening to Phoebe reminded me a bit of how Victoria Wood delivered her pieces in a humorous but very down to earth way which reached out to everyone, and I love that.

I had expected something just a wee bit depressive, but came away feeling enriched, humbled but also educated and with much admiration.

The tour starts in Nottingham, which is Phoebe’s home town gig and will tour in Autumn 2021 and Spring 2022 supported by charity partner Brain Tumour Research. It will also be available as a made-for-film digital edition streamed from each venue.

“The Glad Game” is Co-Produced by Nottingham Playhouse and Pippa Frith, Sound Design by Iain Armstrong and directed by Tessa Walker.

“The Glad Game” is at the Nottingham Playhouse until Saturday 25 September.