Abigail’s mum is dead. But it turns out she can’t afford her to be. Did you know how expensive it is to die? It’s £4,000 for the funeral. Extra for flowers. And even more if you want sausage rolls. Otherwise, she’ll get a council funeral and an unmarked grave.
In her work as a playwright, Abigail has been asked to write about something raw, from her ‘unique working-class lens’. Something that will make the audience feel gratifyingly bad about themselves. And so, to afford the funeral, she has to write about her mum.
Kelly Jones’s My Mother’s Funeral: The Show playfully tackles the inequalities we face around death, and the cost of turning your loved ones into art. It was co-produced by Paines Plough; Mercury Theatre, Colchester; Belgrade Theatre, Coventry; Landmark Theatres and Royal & Derngate, Northampton – and premiered in 2024 at the Belgrade, before a UK tour including a run at Paines Plough’s Roundabout at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
‘A warm, tender and at times deeply moving play’
— The Stage
‘Incredibly witty and punchily crafted… Jones writes with at-times lacerating edge… a middle finger to the developmental hell faced by writers on UK stages’
— WhatsOnStage
‘Made the audience laugh and cry, sometimes barely a minute apart… a play that packs punches, sowing emotional seeds that blossom only a few scenes later’
— Edinburgh Reviews
‘Sharp and very funny… great fun’
— British Theatre Guide
