Praise for the company
“SUPERB ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️” – LondonTheatre1
“TOUCHING⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️” – All Edinburgh Theatre
“ENCHANTING⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️” – LostInTheatreland
“PERFECT ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️” – TheatreWeekly
“EXCELLENT⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️” – Everything Theatre
Winner of the 2026 VCA Playwriting Award
“I’m not going to die happy, I’m going to die really fucking angry and I want people on Radio 4 to hear all about it.”
Zara is dying. But she’s not about to go out without making some noise.
At seventeen, with a terminal diagnosis and a very limited tolerance for nonsense, she has one final project: record her own eulogy, in her own words, before her brain tumour makes that impossible. Funny, angry, and absolutely unwilling to be reduced to her illness, Zara is the last person who needs saving.
Stuart thinks he’s there to help. He’s good at helping - he’s built a career out of it, a quiet, careful life of service that keeps his own grief at a comfortable distance. But Zara doesn’t need managing. She needs witnessing. And that’s something Stuart has never quite learned to do.
Before I’m Dead is a tender two-hander that asks what it really means to see another human being: not the polished performance they present to the world, but the real, inconvenient, luminous truth of them. It shows us that, surprising as they may be, connections are the greatest form of bravery in the face of mortality.
Writer - James Rushbrooke
Director - Oliver Savage
Starring Myla Carmen & Pete Ashmore
Producer - Eleanor Shaw
Assistant Director - Nat Neri
BEFORE I’M DEAD is the VCA Playwriting Award winner 2026.
About the Writer:
James Rushbrooke is a writer based in London, originally from the South West. His debut full length play Tomcat won the 2015 Papatango Prize. His favoured writing style is ‘domestic-dystopia’, high concept ideas explored through interpersonal relationships. When not writing plays and screenplays, he delivers writing workshops for children and adults via the Papatango ‘Go Write’ scheme, works at the sharp end of law in a secure mental health facility and collect first edition books. He is proudly addicted to his Audible and kindle.
Crew
Director: Oli Savage
Producer: Ellie Shaw
Lighting Designer: TBA
Writer: James Rushbrooke
Meet the Cast
Myla Carmen - ZARA
Training: Italia Conti, CAT Scheme and The Rhythm Studio
Stage Credits include: Jamie Lloyd Company's Evita (West End); Jesus Christ Superstar (UK Tour); The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (West End); The Queen of Hearts (Greenwich Theatre) and West End Spectacular (ExCel London)
TV and Film credits include: The Crown, Season 6 (Netflix) and The Secret Santa Project (Sea High Productions Feature Film)
Commercials include: Lego (2023) and BP Rewards (2023)
Pete Ashmore - STUART
Stage credits includes:
The Rivals, Uncle Vanya and The Circle (Orange Tree); Strangers on a Train, Bedroom Farce, Murder by Misadventure (Devonshire Park); Romeo & Juliet (Bristol Old Vic/Hackney Empire); Brief Encounter, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Stephen Joseph Theatre); The Jungle Book, A Christmas Carol (Watermill Theatre); Venice Preserved, The Provoked Wife (RSC); The Lovely Bones, Treasure Island (Birmingham Rep); Macbeth (National Theatre); A Christmas Carol (Theatre by the Lake); Vernon God Little, The Ruffian on the Stair, The Queen of Spades, The Lady Aoi, La Musica, Venice Preserved, Nothing (the Citizens Theatre & E59E59 Off Broadway); Arms and the Man, The Canterbury Tales, Aladdin (Watford Palace Theatre); Private Lives, A View from the Bridge, The Winter’s Tale, Under Milk Wood, David Copperfield, Beauty and the Beast (Mercury Theatre); Treasure Island (Hall for Cornwall); Noises Off (Frinton Rep); Zorro (Charing Cross Theatre); The Dog Beneath the Skin (Jermyn Street Theatre);The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Arabian Nights (Sherman Cymru);The Emperor’s New Clothes, House and Garden (Harrogate Theatre); The Itinerant Music Hall (Lyric Hammersmith); Mansfield Park (Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds); Hamlet (AFTLS US tour); Manchester Sound: The Massacre, Grimm Tales (Library Theatre); The Jungle Book (Lyric Theatre, Belfast); Public Property (Hampstead Theatre); Tom’s Midnight Garden, Jemima Puddle-Duck (Unicorn Theatre); Cutlery Wars (Soho Theatre); One Snowy Night (Chichester Minerva Theatre).
TV and Film credits include:
Suspect (Disney+), The Crown (Netflix), Silent Witness (BBC), Holby City (BBC) and The Bill (ITV)
