Written and directed by Shannon Damery, it debuts at the Lambeth Fringe, 22 October at 7pm at the Golden Goose Theatre with two more London performances at the Courtyard Theatre on 23 October at 7pm and 25 October at 4pm.
Shannon Damery is a Brussels based writer and actress. She grew up in the USA in a tight-knit family whose experiences with loss, illness, caretaking, and the weak social support system have profoundly influenced her writing. Her first play, “All Sales Final”, won a contest to be staged in Brussels in 2023. Subsequently she was awarded the 2025 John McGrath fellowship to attend the theatre and performance summer school program with SUISS in Edinburgh. “Code Tea Party” will be Shannon’s directorial debut.
Plot Teaser:
Two adult siblings fall down the “rabbit hole” of the modern healthcare system. Mary Ann has given up her life to become a full-time caretaker for her brother as he progressively loses control of his body and looks for a way out. Darkly comedic with a surreal edge, the play highlights the absurdity of the bureaucratic circus standing between patients and care. Faced with rising costs and overburdened healthcare workers, how far will Mary Ann go and what taboos will she break in order to “save” her loved one?
About Broken Chair Productions:
Code Tea Party is the first production of a new women-led theatre group, Broken Chair Productions. The goal of the group is to offer a platform for new writing and innovative work in our home city of Brussels and beyond. As a group made up of internationals from different backgrounds, our vision is to offer a welcoming space open to fusion, new ideas, co-creation, and cultural mixing.
“ A lot of my life has been lived against the backdrop of illness, hospitals, nursing homes, caretaking, and doctors’ offices. I have witnessed loved ones being told that they could not get the medication or care they needed because they were not sick enough. Well, not sick enough yet. Even as a child, this seemed like madness to me and, as I grew older, I realized that this agonizing ridiculousness was begging to be made into a play. I’m grateful for the creative team of Broken Chair Productions and the Lambeth Fringe for bringing this play to life. I hope it will inspire people to shake their heads, laugh, and gasp along with the characters stuck in this mad world of illness, struggle and devotion.” – Shannon Damery
Cast:
Sophie McQuillian as MARY ANN
Neale McDonald as JOSH
Anni Koskela as NURSE 1
Nastassia Maes as NURSE 2
Hussain Khan as GABE and DR. LAPIN
Paul Musiol as MIKE and DR. CHENILLE
Katya Sakhanevych as MADDIE, the SOCIAL WORKER