Guest Blog: Actor and Comedian Sophie Craig on Saying Yes, Grief and Her Debut Play I LOVE YOU, NOW WHAT?

Years ago, I was set on going to med school. I did my A levels, applied and then, at the last minute, withdrew my applications and went to drama school. I moved to London on my own at 21 and have been fumbling around, creating, writing, acting, working every job you can think of - ever since!

I found very quickly that the industry isn't kind to working class actors. We have to fight harder to be seen. Throw 'female in comedy' into the mix and it's harder still. I learned that if I wanted to work, to be seen, to tell stories, then I would have to do it myself.

After years of procrastinating, worrying what people would think of me, I started creating comedy sketches. I started writing the TV shows I had ideas for. I reached out to people. I started to not take 'No' as a 'not yet.' I felt like I had something to prove.

In 2018, my Dad was diagnosed with an aggressive brain cancer and my family's world was flipped upside down. The impact it had on everything around me was monumental, but the impact it had on my relationship was not something I had been ready for. He passed away in 2019.

I had been doing comedy for a while and the day he was diagnosed, I had just been commissioned by BBC Three for a series of comedy sketches [their online commissions called Quickies]. It ended up being their most successful of that particular series, ever. The whole comedy thing snowballed from there.

The day my Dad passed away, I got offered a small role on a TV show. That job led to a script of mine being picked up and put under option. It went into development. From that series, another concept was born...I Love You, Now What?

After thrashing it around, wondering what to do with it, I was ready to throw the towel in (as you often think of doing at least twice a year in this industry) but, after seeing a few 'signs' I couldn't ignore, I decided I was going to make this happen. So I took it back, and wrote the play I Love You, Now What?

ILYNW was inspired by some of my Dad's story, and some of my experiences. Grief has been done a lot on stage, but I haven't seen it told like this and all in a funny, working class, raw and honest way.

I was worried about sharing this story at first. Was it too much? Will my family be ok? But the amazing thing with sharing stories is that they can become a part of someone else's survival guide. The first thing we do, when we receive bad news, or feel something or someway, Is look for stories of those who have also experienced it. This is something that always compels me and keeps me going when I'm writing from any kind of truth.

And here it is!

And I'm just getting started. To most people, this is just another play - but this play has been a dream of mine. A tick off my ever growing list. But had I not started writing, and not started taking 'no's' as 'not yet's' - this play wouldn't even exist. Who knows what's ahead? I suppose as well, I wanted to show my Dad that pulling out of med school wasn't my worst idea. This, I guess, is for him.

So the point to this (I think) if you have read this far is...just do it. You're amazing and people want to hear what you have to say. Don't wonder. Don't worry. Don't wish. Just do it.
I Love You, Now What? is at the Pleasance Theatre from 25 - 29 April

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