Hello! My name is Mabel McGregor, I’m an 18-year-old actor and playwright. I grew up in a small village in North Wales and moved to London after graduating from the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts – Sixth Form College.
I wrote my first play at seventeen, it was called ‘CON-FUSION’. It portrayed the story of a playwright called Cara who found comfort in creating characters from parts of herself. But as she began to lose control of her life, these characters became sentient beings that took control of her. I cast my classmates from LIPA as the characters in the play after our term at LIPA ended. I funded the process of finding rehearsal spaces, costumes, props, set and venue from my part-time job. I directed the show whilst playing the role of the storyteller, Cara, and we performed the show to a sold-out audience in Liverpool. It was an incredible experience and it launched a passion for writing and performance that I have been pursuing since.
‘Recollections’ means a lot to me as it began as a passion project whilst I was looking for work in London. I took a gap year after LIPA and whilst going through the process of re-applying for drama school I became fearful of losing theatre as an active part of my life so I decided to take the project of ‘Recollections’ further with the Edinburgh Fringe.
Dissociative Amnesia has been a topic I’ve felt passionate about as I feel it is not talked about enough but is not as uncommon as we may think. I wanted to raise awareness of the disorder as I know people who have gone through this disorder with little to know information on the causes and effects. It is common in those who experienced traumatic events, survivors guilt, war-times, neglect, abuse, violence or life-changing situations.
Although there are topics within the play that can be distressing, I ensured they were approached with delicacy and care. I wanted to bring light, humour and awareness to them.