An Evening with The Ladies of Ladbroke Grove showcased seven bold new short plays and monologues written entirely by members of our Express Yourself group. While these talented women have long performed in Renegade’s plays and films - and shaped scripts alongside Artistic Director Natasha Langridge - none had ever written a script independently. Over several months, the group dived headfirst into playwriting: mastering character development, running improv sessions and pushing through challenging rewrites.

We gathered friends and family at the Venture Centre for an intimate, informal reading where the women took on characters and performed each other's work. The pieces brought raw, authentic local stories to life, ranging from navigating the grief of Grenfell and arriving in North Ken as a refugee, to coming out later in life, deep friendship, a mother preparing to meet the daughter she gave up 20 years ago and even getting arrested in Portobello Market.

The audience reaction was overwhelmingly warm, calling the night funny, deeply moving, and thought-provoking. Driven by the success of the reading, the writers are already working to develop their scripts further, with plans to fully stage the plays next year.