London Student Launches First Play At Edinburgh Fringe

Winston’s Wish Youth Ambassador Teigan Banks is launching her first play at the Edinburgh Fringe. '7 Steps to Feel Completely Happy Again' draws on her own experience of childhood bereavement.

Article Source: Winston’s Wish
Last Updated: 15 May 2024 9:47

There are not many playwrights, writers or poets who can boast that their first professional outing was at the illustrious Edinburgh Fringe Festival and yet 21-year Queen Mary University of London student and bereavement charity ambassador Teigan Banks is preparing to take her first ever play to the world’s largest arts festival.

As a Winston’s Wish Youth Ambassador, Teigan is a passionate grief advocate and shares her lived experience of childhood bereavement. “I mainly want to use my play to help others. The message of it, is basically that the ‘7 stages of grief’ are so misleading. I want people to know that even if their grief doesn’t polish into the 7 stages that it says when you google it, it doesn’t mean that there is something wrong with you, or that you are grieving incorrectly. This play is sad but it’s also funny. A bit like life. A bit like grief.”

The play draws on Banks’ personal experience of childhood bereavement. She explains, “I lost my Mum at the age of 11 when she died from a brain tumour; I was so young and not many of my peers had experienced any sort of death let alone the death of their mum or a parent. I’ve spent so much of my life feeling quite alone in my grief. I feel like my play is just a creative way to channel my passion for grief advocacy.”

During lockdown, Teigan reached out for support to Winston’s Wish – the UK’s first children and young people’s bereavement charity which supports young people up to the age of 25 when their worlds are turned upside down by grief.

“I had support from Winston’s Wish back in 2020. During lockdown, my grief resurfaced in a way it hadn’t previously in my life. I was 18 at the time. Even though my mum passed away when I was 11, I think it was the first time in my life I had to sit with my feelings, without the busy, constant of life.

“This spurred me on, to becoming a Winston’s Wish Youth Ambassador. This started with just giving me a platform to write about my grief and my Mum. This has always been the best way for me to process all of this. I really have Winston’s Wish to thank for the act of writing about grief. I think if I hadn’t had starting articles about grief for the charity then I wouldn’t have been able to write my own play about it.”

Entitled ‘7 Steps to Feel Completely Happy Again, Banks’ work is an equivocal play of self-discovery of grief, death and dying. It questions if there really are seven steps to feel completely happy again.

Teigan explains how the play came to be selected for the Edinburgh Fringe.
“My university’s theatre company takes four plays to Edinburgh Fringe each year. You have to pitch your play and get it voted in. I had started writing my play at the point the pitch night was announced for Fringe and I had the outline of my play set out. Eight plays went for it and mine was one of the four that got voted to go!

“I previously put my play on with my university through the theatre society. We had two performances. I think after I watched those and had the feedback, I realised how exciting an opportunity Edinburgh Fringe will be. I think it hasn’t quite settled in yet, but I can’t really believe that I get to put on a play, that is so close to my own story of grief. I am excited to share it, and open people up to the topic of grief, death and dying through this play.

“It felt a bit strange at first, to hear my own words being acted out. Especially as I have some monologues that are things I have written about when my Mum was not very well and coming to the end of her life. I think I got so used to it in the rehearsal that it wasn’t until the university performances that I realised how emotional, the words, the acting and the play was altogether. I didn’t realise until I saw the final product of my play, the impact it had on the audience.”

Winston’s Wish has been established for more than thirty years and provides on-demand support and one-to-one counselling by referral to grieving young people. Winston’s Wish provides direct support to more than 60,000 bereaved young people each year, offers a range of free resources and advice to parents, carers and educational or healthcare professionals.

The charity also recently launched Talk Grief - the Youth-led Grief Network which provides a dedicated space for bereaved young adults (13-25) to find support, hear from others and feel less alone in their grief.

Audiences can watch Teigan Banks’ play, ‘7 Steps to Feel Completely Happy Again’ at Space 1, the Space on the Mile from the 12th of August across 6 performances up until the 23rd.

Tickets cost £10 or £8 for family or concessions. Further details can be found HERE.

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