After Party

by Morna Young

None of you are brave enough to live,
let alone die.

Matriarch Vivienne Blackwood has always lived life on her own terms; much to the frustration of her fractured family.

Summoned for her 80th birthday party, they arrive expecting the usual family shenanigans. What they're not expecting, however, is Viv's announcement that tonight is much more than a birthday party – it's the
celebration of a lifetime. Because tomorrow, Viv will die. . . and she wants her whole family at her side.

Set in a world where Assisted Dying is newly legalised, After Party by award winning Scottish playwright Morna Young is a bold and life-affirming story about a life-ending decision.

This edition was published to coincide with the Traverse Theatre, Paines Plough and Belgrade Theatre co-production in August 2026.

128 pages, Paperback

Published September 10, 2026

About the author

Morna Young is a Scottish playwright, screenwriter, journalist, actress and musician.

She was the recipient of the 2017 Dr. Gavin Wallace Fellowship (hosted by Creative Learning, Aberdeen City Council) and the New Playwrights Award 2014 (Playwrights' Studio, Scotland).

Her professionally produced plays include The Buke of the Howlat (Findhorn Bay Arts), Lost at Sea (Perth Theatre, 2019) and her adaptation of Hans Christian Anderson's The Snow Queen (Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, 2023). Her adaptation of Lewis Grassic Gibbon's Sunset Song was staged by Dundee Rep and the Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, in 2024.

Young is a scriptwriter for the BBC Scotland television soap opera River City.