I'd Rather Not Know!

After the success of What Are We Going To Do With All Our Children last year, Brighter Futures and Jersey Arts Centre are back with a brand new, one-off piece: I'd Rather Not Know!, written by 13 extraordinary women.

Created with the assistance of Jersey Arts Centre Director, Daniel Austin, I'd Rather Not Know! explores the idea of having one last story to tell. If you could only tell one, what would it be? Exploring the experience of pain, laughter, motherhood, kindness and the future, I'd Rather Not Know! is honest, poignant, and, most of all, real.

Daniel Austin, Jersey Arts Centre Director and director of the piece says of the cast that "extraordinary, real-life stories are told throughout the rehearsal process and there is always tremendous excitement as they approach sharing their stories with an audience."

Brighter Futures is a charity that supports parents, carers, children and young people in Jersey. We provide a number of free programmes and services to help support the parents and carers we meet. People come to us for a variety of reasons and from across the social system, with different backgrounds, experiences, family and financial situations. We work together with families to improve the well-being of the main carer in the family, to improve family relationships, support child development and to help families to raise healthy, happy and aspirational children.

Brighter Futures CEO Ruth Brunton says “Brighter Futures are delighted that once again, some of our extraordinary women will be performing at Jersey Arts Centre. Following on from the success of last year’s performance, the women have been working hard to develop their ideas and write about their unique view of the experience of pain, laughter, motherhood, kindness and the future. It is an honest reflection of everyday, real life experiences, often poignant and emotional.”

Some of the actors have told us about the powerful impact being a part of this project has had on them: “The play is totally out of my comfort zone but being part of this with an amazing group of women keeps me going, it gives me strength and confidence. Even though learning lines has been stressfully consuming I am grateful and it's been worth it for the experience”

“This is my second play now, it is always therapeutic writing out our thoughts and stories onto paper especially ones you wouldn’t normally be brave enough to tell, but because of the support of Daniel and all the ladies in the group it just flows out naturally and makes you feel stronger as a woman to release it. Performing the play itself boosts your confidence so much and leaves you on such a high”

“It's been a crazy journey, we got to choose our subject to write and act out- most of us have picked those stories that's been our hardest it's like revisiting the hardest times but this time we are going through them together and when we perform it’s like… we made it,  we all survived. Its closure”

“It has been an incredible journey, one that I could never have done without the trust and support of our drama group. I feel that writing my piece for the play has been the best therapy. The whole process has been cathartic. I count myself incredibly lucky to be a part of it and I am looking forward to being able to perform our work to an audience. Thank you to everyone for making this possible and of course a huge thank you to our fantastic director Daniel Austin for his sensitivity, dedication and inspiration.”

Jersey Arts Centre is excited to be producing this brand new piece of theatre, created by women straight from Jersey's community. It's on for one night only, so don't miss out!