Giving Up Marty

'Don't you want to find your birth mother?' 

'It’s history, what’s the point of raking up the past?' 

But what if the past comes to you?

Joel is found by his birth mum and sister. He’s only eighteen and scared. Identity means a lot, particularly to a teenager. His life is about to change forever. 

Until now, he's just known Mum, Dad and his adopted sister. Life is safe, settled and secure. Yes, he’s been curious about his origins but no more than that. As he turns eighteen, much to everyone’s surprise, it’s Martha, his birth mother and Melissa his birth sister who come looking for him. The events that follow, leave Joel embroiled in a family history that changes his life and identity forever.

Giving Up Marty is a brand new play by Karen Bartholomew. Robust, spare and gutsy, it takes no prisoners.

Vault Festival 2020 
Crescent Theatre, Leake St Waterloo, SE1 7NN

10th/11th/12th March 2020 

18:10

To Book - Vault Festival - Giving Up Marty


R&D - Coram/Soho/Paines Plough - Audience reactions

'This important piece of theatre! It truly represents a ‘slice of life’ that often is not presented or explored.'

'Anything that demystifies adoption is good thing.'

'It is not something that is ever going to disappear from our western nuclear family societal structure. I do not have any friend who does not know someone who is one of those characters.'