Empty Wallet Productions Presents AWAKENING

It's the morning of Cassie's twenty-sixth birthday and she wakes to find herself in someone's front garden with no recollection of getting there. Did she drink too much, or is there a more sinister reason? As Cassie struggles to retrace the night, she's forced to confront the sometimes hilarious, sometimes horrific mistakes she's made over the past year. The brand new solo show from writer and performer Kirsty Osmon (winner of the Manchester Evening News Award for Best Newcomer) takes inspiration from real-life stories of women on nights out to question attitudes towards consent and our relationship with alcohol.

At a time when there is greater awareness of the voices of victims of sexual assault, Awakening unpicks the moment of realisation when Cassie is forced to face up to painful truths and speak up to wrong doing in order to protect future generations of young women.

Kirsty Osmon said, "'I wrote Awakening because from personal experience, drink spiking has become normalised. When did it become okay to wake up with no recollection of the night and what does that mean if there is a possibility that you've been assaulted? There's a sense that, if it happens to you, somehow you're to blame. I wanted to unpick the notions of consent and expose the 'blame game' all within the context of Millennial loneliness and loss. I am hoping with the rise of #metoo we can have a different conversation.'

Kirsty Osmon won the Manchester Evening News award for Best Newcomer and is current developing work with the Soho Theatre Writer's Lab, and her short film Aeroplanes (written by Osmon & directed by Paul Shammasian) is currently on the film festival circuit. Her lyrical play The System was long-listed for the 2017 Papatango Award and in 2016 she co-wrote Might Never Happen with Doll's Eye Theatre (which had a sellout run at The Kings Head Theatre, then later at Zedel's Crazy Coqs, and is now touring UK schools with the support of Rape Crisis). Screen acting credits include: Lewis (ITV), Casualty (BBC), Eastenders (BBC) and the BAFTA nominated short We Are What We Drink.

Carla Kingham is a theatre director and dramaturge. In 2018 Carla will direct the world premiere of Isaac Came Home From the Mountain by Phil Ormrod at Theatre503. She is developing new musical The Tale of Betty Corrigall in collaboration with Jane Upon and Hannah Peel, and a stage response to Miranda July's No one belongs here more than you with her company Footnote. Productions include: No Place Like Hope (Old Red Lion), Sea Fret (Old Red Lion/ HighTide), You're Human Like the Rest of Them (Finborough), After the Heat We Battle for the Heart (VAULT), Bi (Rich Mix), No Border (Theatre503/Oxford Playhouse).

Empty Wallet Productions was established by writer/performer Kirsty Osmon & producer Kati Donlon to support emerging writers and artists and give them a platform to showcase their work. Awakening is Empty Wallet's debut at the Edinburgh Festival.

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