Louise

Louise Weber was not the first woman to be devoured by her audience, and she will not be the last. From Billie Holiday to Judy Garland to Amy Winehouse to Britney Spears to Sinead O'Connor, we have always found ways to consume women whole and call it admiration. Louise's story drew me in because it felt so devastatingly familiar: a working-class woman who was too loud, too brash, too ugly to fit neatly into expectations. A woman who built everything herself from nothing and was remembered only as someone else's prop. I recognised her. I made this show because I believe theatre has a responsibility to entertain, but also to ask the audience to sit with something uncomfortable. With this work, I ask you to consider not just Louise, but every woman you have watched rise and then helped tear down. She was not perfect, BECAUSE she was not a product. She was a person. So are they. So are we.