My World Has Exploded A Little Bit

My World Has Exploded A Little Bit is an acclaimed new play telling a deeply personal story of love and loss by Ovalhouse’s Associate Artist Bella Heesom and Olivier Award-winning director Donnacadh O’Briain. Following a critically acclaimed run at the 2016 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and a transfer to VAULT Festival 2017 that was Highly Commended by the Awards Committee, My World Has Exploded A Little Bit will run at London’s Ovalhouse as part of a national tour.
Bella Heesom’s bold writing debut explores the beauty and agony of confronting grief in an increasingly secular society in this darkly comic and unflinchingly honest play about how she dealt with the deaths of her parents. Part true story, part farcical performance lecture, this bittersweet show is a refreshing mix of tender intimacy, live music, hard-hitting philosophy and clownish silliness.
Heesom bravely lays herself bare while presenting an increasingly absurd ‘Logical, Philosophical Guide to Managing Mortality’. She is joined onstage by Eva Alexander, who plays her hapless assistant; a mischievous, clown-like character who ineptly demonstrates the awkward, sometimes comical realities of patient care, and sings inappropriate songs about brain tumours. The show has a multimedia design by Elizabeth Harper, featuring projected text and dreamlike sketches, and is supported by an enchanting live piano score composed by Anna O’Grady.
My World Has Exploded A Little Bit is the first in a series of plays to be made by ALL ABOUT YOU; the creative collaboration between writer/performer Bella Heesom and Olivier award-winning director/dramaturg Donnacadh O’Briain (Rotterdam by Jon Brittain at Trafalgar Studios; Always Orange by Fraser Grace at the RSC). The pair are Associate Artists at Ovalhouse, where they are also currently developing their next show; a celebration of female sexuality, titled: Rejoicing At Her Wondrous Vulva The Young Woman Applauded Herself.

Owen Calvert-Lyons, Ovalhouse’s Head of Theatre & Artist Development, comments, I am very proud to be presenting the work of three of our Associate Artists, Bella Heesom, Donnacadh O’Briain and Koko Brown, this season. We are supporting, developing and nurturing some of the most exciting artists in London and these are the first plays to come out of this programme. Across the season our artists present you with challenging visions of our present as well as hopeful visions of our future and invite us to reflect on where our own journey will lead us.