Still here, and back in the ring

Phillip John Jones and Emma Kaler in Still Here

Liverpool playwright Mari Lloyd's debut play Still Here was originally developed through a research and development Arts Council grant at the city's Hope Street Theatre in 2022 - and after a London run and tour around South Wales, returns to Hope Street this autumn (September 11-12).

Focusing on working-class identity, mental health and boxing, it features two sparring 18-year-olds in a small Welsh ex-mining town who realise they have bigger things to fight for. Rhys wants to be a boxer while his father wants to learn Welsh, while Yasmin is living with her nan while her mother wants to be looking over the plains of Uganda. The children can’t speak to their parents, and the parents don’t understand how their children are feeling.

Lloyd grew up in the Rhondda Valley and brings personal experience to the script: she "stays grounded and sane" by using a local boxing gym. While the play was in development it was presented not only to theatre practitioners, but also taken to boxing gyms - offering unexpected audiences the chance to respond to their world of the play.

Mari's plays The Match and Last Tango at St. Leonards were seen at the Liverpool Write Now Festival, while Three Women was at the Manchester 24:7 Festival and Elegy at the Liverpool Fringe Festival. Her plays Evidence and Charity have been in showcases in London, and Looking Out for Jack was long-listed for the Papatango New Writing Prize.

Phillip John Jones, who plays Rhys, is an award-winning Welsh actor and writer who won an award for his role as Jack in Packaged for BBC Wales. His debut film Bwl Boy was screened by BBC Wales in 2022 and nominated for best screenplay and best drama and Dog Hair, his debut full-length play, appeared as part of the Vaults Festival 2023.

Returning to the role of Yasmin is Emma Kaler an Indian/Welsh actress from Cardiff. Recent credits include the short film Grandfather Rights (BBC Wales) and Shireen in Torchwood’s radio series, Suckers (BBC).

More info and tickets here