'Sisters Izzy and Hannah have an unbreakable bond, but when one is diagnosed with cervical cancer, at the age of just 25, even the closest of siblings experience the toughest of times.'
Crystal Williams and Rachel Isbister met at the University of Salford and are already starting to make waves in their fledgling careers. It all started only a year ago with a gritty piece on sex-workers entitled Whorephobia. Far from being exploitative or crass, the play was based on actual interviews with those directly involved with the 'oldest trade in the world'.
Crystal and Rachel have a passion for highlighting issues that are important to the often unheard members of society..."As a theatre company, we've always wanted to focus on female issues with past work including theatre based around female sex workers and female sexuality" says Rachel.
Their debut play received much critical acclaim, and their enthusiasm for real life stories continues with Tea and Two Sugars, a play that confronts the affects of cancer... "The inspiration behind Tea and Two Sugars was simply an article that we read about the dropping rates of women in the UK going for their smear test" she explains "This sparked an interest within us as we knew very little about the topic, so we knew that bringing it to the forefront of theatre would make it more accessible for a lot of women."
Rachel and Crystal are quickly gaining a reputation as skilful and adept playwrights. Humour is prominent in this touching and powerful tale, as Rachael informs; "In the beginning we did find it difficult to inject humour into the play, however, we constantly had to remind ourselves that these two characters are sisters; sisters who have an incredibly close bond. It's also the 'British way' to make light of a serious situation, so once we got this into our heads it became natural to write with humour involved."
Tea and Two Sugars is a brand new piece of theatre and will be premiered at 53Two this week. It discusses the all too relevant and mostly unexplored subject of cervical screening, dealing with a disease that affects so many. It is an original awareness-raising play from an exciting new writing team.
Presented by Two Time Theatre Company and 53TwoFOUNDation present:
Tea And two Sugars
Tuesday 19th-Friday 22nd February 7:30pm
53Two, 8 Albion Street
Manchester M1 5LN
Tickets £8. And on 22nd February tickets £9. Show is followed by fundraiser party and £1 from each ticket to go to Jo's Trust. For further details – click here
Written by Rachel Isbister and Crystal Williams
Directed by Chloe Patricia Beale
Words by Ian Leslie
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