The commitment to young creatives and development of local talent is at the forefront of Liverpool Everyman's premiere of A Billion Times I Love You.
For the first production of the autumn season (September 27-October 8), both writer Patrick Maguire and director Jessica Meade are graduates of the award-winning Young Everyman Playhouse (YEP) programme, currently in its 10th year. Fast rising Liverpool rock band Crawlers provide the music.
The play – about finding new ways to say "I love you' when it feels like your soulmate has stopped listening – is supported by Homotopia, the UK's longest-running LGBTQIA arts festival. The play won the Homotopia writing award last year, and reaction to a scripted reading in May was so positive it was immediately booked for the theatre's main stage.
Jesse and Taylor are two young women in love. At least they think they are. But do we ever really know what love feels like for the other person? Is it real love if they don’t always say it back? Backchat and bust-ups, kisses and... cleaning products, underscore the couple's hunt for queer romantic bliss.
Director Jessica said: “I feel incredibly grateful to be supported by the theatre's creative director, Suba Das, and the team. My relationship began with their young director development programme, so this opportunity is particularly special to me. It all feels very full circle!”
Mary Higgins (Traitors, Channel 4 and The English Game, Netflix) plays Jesse, while Merseyside actor Melissa Lowe (in recent times seen in Gypsy at Manchester's Royal Exchange and The Importance of Being Earnest at Bolton Octagon) plays Taylor, while local four-piece band Crawlers broke into the scene last year with a viral hit, Come Over (Again), which has clocked up more than over 35 million streams on Spotify.
Suba Das said: “Patrick’s play is the most beautifully observed exploration of the hopes and fears bubbling under any love affair, and I’m so excited that Jessica's playful production will also be giving our audiences a first listen to new music from Crawlers, a Liverpool band blowing up around the world.”