“life is terror with a clown mask superglued on”
Lulla
This surreal queer dream play by Ben reached the top 100 longlist from 1060 entries for the 2017 Verity Bargate Award.
An extract was workshopped in April 2018 at Flux Theatre’s Actor Writer Gym in the Katzspace Studio Theatre (at Katzenjammers, London Bridge), directed by Miriam Higgins and performed by Lauren Moakes and Bess Roche.
Director Martha J. Baldwin ran a workshop day in September 2023 exploring Lulla as part of Barons Court Theatre’s Queering the Canon, a week of events centred on non-binary theatre makers. The play was performed by Everleigh Brenner, Sioned Jones, Emily Millwood and Jamie Zubairi.
Ben was awarded a 2025 Peggy Ramsay Foundation grant to develop the play for production.
Ben received 2026 Arts Council England funding for a Flaming Theatre production of Lulla in London during June-July.
lulla = an un/familiar fragment word, echoing “lullaby” and the sensations of sleep and childhood
Marin is 16 and just met the girl of her dreams. But when her disapproving mum and dad find out, all hell breaks loose. She escapes them by flying out of her bedroom window into the underworld of her subconscious, where birds are gods and choices are infinite. There she faces her deepest dreams and nightmares, guided by the mysterious, gender-shifting Lady Nightshade. Warped versions of her parents, late grandmother, girlfriend and school bully send her spiralling through this shadowland, as she grapples with the death of her childhood. Lulla is a poetic and transgressive adventure for young LGBTQ+ audiences and other thrill-seekers that asks: who am I, if I am not my family?