"The Glad Game" by Phoebe Frances Brown.

Nottingham Lace Market Theatre.

"The Glad Game" is Phoebe’s play about living with an incurable brain tumour. She performed the play at Hampstead Theatre, London and Nottingham, Playhouse and this is the first time that it has been performed in Nottingham since Phoebe herself performed it in 2021.

Phoebe was born in 1992, and grew up in Nottingham, found a place to develop her skills as a performer at the Television Workshop. She went onto study theatre at the University of Birmingham and performed on the National Theatre stage in "Small Island".

 In November 2018, aged 26, Phoebe was diagnosed with an incurable brain tumour in the area of her brain that controls speech, language and memory. Being an actor, losing these functions was devastating to say the least, but still she battled on with her "do what you gotta do" attitude. Phoebe lost her battle to cancer in April 2022 aged just 29.

"The Glad Game" is Phoebe’s story. Her story of finding herself in the darkest, bleakest of times, of finding gladness in the saddest of moments and of how who and what you love can pull you through.

This has to be the quickest 80 minutes in theatre, due to the way that we are involved in this story; it's almost like finding someone's diary and reading it and discovering so much about a person that you thought that you knew.

We are taken to the edge of emotion and sadness and just as you're about to tip over, you're brought back from the brink with an unexpected funny line and off we go again on another story. You don't get much time to feel sorry for Phoebe before you find yourself smiling, grinning and laughing. I never met Phoebe but this play shows her as someone who didn't let this evil curse keep her down for too long. Someone who packed so much into the short life that she lived and because of her gifted skills and life, makes you miss that kind of person and want to be in her circle.

It would take a very special and gifted actor to take this story on and hold an audience alone on stage but Jen White is that person chosen to drive this one woman play. When I first went to "radio school" - yes, there is such a thing, my group tutor was Bruno Brookes - the first thing we had to do was to talk about ourselves for one minute, which some in my group found difficult to do for a whole minute. It may not come as any surprise that I cruised through the one minute with ease talking about me. Just think how hard it is to hold an audience in the palm of your hand and entertain them for 80 minutes, remembering a whole play's script with no one physical to bounce off. And also to not trip over or forget any word in the script, standing, sometimes sitting or lying down in the spotlight with everyone's eyes on you. Jen White has possibly performed her most intoxicating piece of theatre to date, earning the standing ovation she received at the closing of the show. And that is something that you don't see at the end of every show at the Lace Market Theatre.

Directed by Kathryn Edwards in her directorial debut, this is a big production to tackle for a debut, but boy she made this show hard-hitting as well as a joyful lesson in how to get through the crap that life throws your way. 

Lighting Design is by David Billen and you may think that a one woman show telling a story won't really require a fancy lightshow. Think again! Throughout the light moments of Phoebe's life it was reflected in the lighting design. In the darker moments Phoebe is illuminated by one spotlight on stage, making sure that you focus on Phoebe and her words, also creating an atmosphere of isolation and being penned in.

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• Sound Design is by Jonathan Blacknell. We get soundbites of music where Phoebe dances around the stage. We get sound effects. We also get the other characters' speech sections to flesh out the story. With so many sound cues within the story, a sound man has to be always on top of their game to make sure that every cue is perfectly timed. The timing could not have been better.
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• Stage Manager is Jae Marriott who taught Phoebe and introduced Kathryn to the play.

"The Glad Game" is a truly thought provoking piece of theatre with great warmth, humour - we are given permission to laugh by Phoebe at the start of the play, sadness and strength of character. And just when you think the show is over, we get to see a little bit of Phoebe on film, which is quite an emotional watch.

I was so pleased to see the Lace Market Theatre almost full; there were only a handful of seats left, so I really do hope that the shows from Friday onwards are completely sold out for a few reasons. To experience an incredible performance from a wonderful actress, to remember a brave and extremely funny local lady and appreciate her immense talent and humour, and thirdly to appreciate how good the Lace Market shows are - most of us already know this anyway. Also to see the blossoming of a wonderful Director.

It's a joy to acknowledge the talent we have on our doorstep.

"The Glad Game" is at the Nottingham Lace Market Theatre until Saturday 21 February in the main auditorium.