EATING TALKING ANIMALS WITH MY SISTER (2022) is a full-length, fast moving, multi-layered, darkly comical, weird and somewhat surreal dystopian feminist fantasy with 8 characters (6F, 2M) with opportunities for doubling.

“Trapped in a surreal human zoo, Strawberry refuses to accept a life behind glass. With her sister imprisoned in a far more sinister realm, she must risk everything - her freedom, her sanity, even her identity - to break out and bring her sister back. But escape comes at a devastating price, and the world outside may be even stranger than the one she’s fleeing. EATING TALKING ANIMALS WITH MY SISTER is a wild, darkly comic journey through captivity, sacrifice, and the unbreakable bond between siblings.”

ETAWMS started life as a one-act play called EATING TALKING ANIMALS that had its first outing in May 2020 in two virtual table reads organised by Waiting In The Wings Theatre Company and North Artist Management. Following on from this, Jonathan wrote a sequel, a one-act play called SISTER. EATING TALKING ANIMALS and SISTER were both workshopped by Undercover Productions before Jonathan decided to combine the two one-act plays into the full-length play called ETAWMS. EATING TALKING ANIMALS and SISTER could, if required, still be performed as two stand-alone one-act plays.

The new, full-length version of ETAWMS was workshopped on-line by Undercover Productions in October 2020 before being longlisted by Scotland's top new writing theatre, the Traverse Theatre, for script development in 2021. An updated version of ETAWMS was read on Zoom by Didcot Phoenix Drama on 11 February 2022 and on 10 April 2022 it won the runners-up prize in the BEST SHORTER FILM, TV PILOT OR PLAY SCRIPT category as well as being selected as one of four finalists in the POSTERITY STAGE AWARD at the Scriptwriters & Co INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL 2022 held in Bath (where the opening scene from the play was performed live on stage).

An extract from ETAWMS can currently be read on New Play Exchange. If you are interested in reading the rest of/performing ETAWMS, please contact JONATHAN here.