Notes to Future Self

by Lucy Caldwell

"Judy's my mom. It's an understatement to say she's a bit of a hippy. I mean who else but a New Ager calls their baby 'Philosophy Rainbow'? I try to go by 'Sophie'."Sophie and Calliope have never been to school. Their mum ran away from home when she was seventeen to join the New Age movement and the girls were raised in a series of ashrams, communes and impromptu raves.When Sophie gets ill, they return to Birmingham - a strange new world where meditation and tree-hugging are replaced with maths homework and TV and the grandmother they have never met. And it's against this bewildering new backdrop - the normality she's always longed for - that Sophie must come to terms with her mortality.Lucy Caldwell's "Notes to Future Self" opened at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre in February 2011.

Genres: Plays, Family

96 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 17, 2011

Reviews

[Michael Rumney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw this play some years ago at the Royal Exchange, Manchester and wasn't impressed, I have since put it down to the way it was directed because when I read it I began to understand it better, this is about the fourth time I have done so.
Judy returns to Birmingham after living a hippy lifestyle around the world. She brings her daughters with her, Sophie 13 and Cal 16. Sophie is dying from a form of bone cancer and the play is about the family's relationships and how they cope with the impending demise of Sophie.
They move back in with Judy's mother Daphne and old tensions are re-ignited between Mother and daughter which reflect those between Sophie and Judy.
The play asks questions about how we cope and move on with a crisis with questions on religion and re-incarnation a subject which bookends the play at the start and in the final scene.
A lot of the speeches are made up of a series of monologues especially from Sophie but these are written well and seem natural and consistent with the whole play.

[Piper · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a wonderful play and i would recommend it to everyone.
The writing was fluent and the stage directions very precise which
made it very easy to actually picture it in my head and
I would love to see the play on stage.

I really cared about Sophie. Her journey was beautifully written
without being romanticised. Towards the end when she pushed everyone away
so they would not miss her as much after her passing was just so real and painful!

I will sure revisit this little gem in the future.

[christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

found this lil play at a vintage book store in london and was intrigued by the content of it. finished it so fast and was thoroughly impressed. the writing flows so well along w the stage directions and really pulls your heart strings

[Tracy Hollen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars