Maggie May (NHB Modern Plays)

'They say we're like swans. Ruddy beautiful graceful things on the surface of a lake but underneath we're paddling like mad.' Maggie and Gordon first met, dancing to Rod Stewart songs, in 1971. Now in their sixties, and still very much in love, they've been finishing each other's songs all their marriage. But now Maggie is feeling foggy and some days the songs are all she can remember. Her son and his new girlfriend are coming to dinner, and her best friend is asking questions. Frances Poet's play Maggie May is an extraordinary drama about an ordinary family who must balance the challenges of daily life whilst living with dementia. A heartfelt and inspiring story of hope, it was first produced in 2020 by Leeds Playhouse, Curve Theatre, Leicester, and Queen's Theatre Hornchurch, directed by Jemima Levick.

Frances Poet is a Glasgow-based writer. Her stage work includes: Maggie May (Leeds Playhouse, Leicester Curve and Queen's Theatre Hornchurch, 2020); Fibres (Stellar Quines and Glasgow Citizens Theatre, 2019); Gut (Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, 2018); Adam (National Theatre of Scotland at the Traverse Theatre, 2017); Faith Fall (Òran Mór and Bristol's Tobacco Factory, 2012) and What Put the Blood (Abbey Theatre, 2017). She has also written a number of free adaptations including Strindberg's Dance of Death (Citizens Theatre, 2016) and Molière's The Misanthrope (Òran Mór, 2014). Her TV and radio work includes River City and The Disappointed, aired on BBC Radio Scotland in 2015. Her short film, Spores, screened at the Edinburgh Film Festival and Bogoshorts Festival, Bogotá, in 2016.