Mother writes play based on daughter's coma

Helen Nelder’s daughter Hannah was saved by the staff in the Trevor Mann Unit at the Royal Sussex County Hospital, where she was part of a study that cools babies to help to minimise brain damage.

Hannah will celebrate her fifth birthday next week, at the same time as Mrs Nelder’s play Sweet Heart will be performed at Brighton Festival Fringe.

Mrs Nelder said: “Hannah had a difficult start to life so that had a big impact on me.

“The play is about relationships between mums and daughters, parenting and what it means to be a mother.”

The play tells the story of Dara, who was a doctor but now thinks she is a fairy.

It provides a gently comic look at Dara’s recovery from her traumatic experiences in a war zone and her struggle to accept that she, and even her mother are only human.

Mrs Nelder developed the play with support from Oxford Playhouse, New Writing South and local g roup Scriptease.

She said: “I have always been interested in contemporary issues but have been developing a warmer and more humorous approach to serious issues, making the appeal broader while losing none of the power to illuminate and tackle important issues.

“At the heart of Sweet Heart is the question ‘how do we bear the unbearable?’ “The answer isn’t to dress up as a fairy. But for me it has been important to use my imagination to heal from a variety of traumatic incidents in my past, the loss of my parents and almost losing Hannah at birth.”

Mrs Nelder has been handing out flyers for her show with Hannah, who has been dressed as a fairy.

She said: “Hannah has completely recovered, which is extraordinary and I am very aware that not everybody is as lucky as us.

“I feel very blessed to have Hannah in my life.”

Sweet Heart will be performed from May 27 to 29 at 3pm at Upstairs at Three and Ten in Steine Street, Brighton.

Tickets cost £9, concessions £7 or £5 on May 27. To book visit www.brightonfestivalfringe.org.uk or call 01273 917272.