A THEATRE company is seeking sponsorship for a ground-breaking new play about life after cancer.

Angela El-Zeind and her community interest theatre company Speak Up! Act Out! are currently working on the new project, Rebel Boob, which will be unveiled as part of the Reigning Women programme at the Old Market in Hove on Friday, March 13.

After being diagnosed and treated for early stage cancer in 2018, she developed the idea for a performance that acknowledges and recognises the period after treatment when you start picking up the pieces and dealing with your grief.

“We are still in the dark about cancer. It is still a taboo subject and we are not talking enough about the numbers of women and men who survive and go on to live rich, fulfilling lives,” Angela explains.

“This play is not about chemotherapy and it’s not about death (though we may talk about it a bit); this play is about life and it is about re-evaluating who you are and what is important.”

Rebel Boob will use interviews with women affected by breast cancer as a starting point, along with choreography and pioneering video-mapping technology, to create an immersive performance along themes of identity, priorities, grief and relationships.

“It will be a raw, funny, honest and beautiful insight into the magic which can happen when

your life as you know it, stops,” she says.

“This piece is all about the strength of women, and what our bodies and minds are capable of.”

After crowdfunding more than £2,000, she is in the process of applying for Arts Council research and development funding, with the aim of touring the production nationally in the future.

Angela and her team are seeking the support of local businesses to sponsor the play in return for adding their logo or an advert to the programme, as well as mentions on social media.

She said the play is more important than ever after recent research unveiled that eight out of ten women are not told by healthcare professionals about the possibility of developing long-term anxiety and depression.

The landmark survey of nearly 3,000 women with breast cancer in England, on behalf of Breast Cancer Care, also revealed one in three experience anxiety for the first time in their lives after their diagnosis and treatment.

A research review in December 2018 also showed breast cancer survivors may be more likely to experience anxiety, depression, sleep troubles and other mental health issues, particularly if they were younger when they were diagnosed or had a history of mental illness prior to the cancer diagnosis.

If you would like to sponsor Rebel Boob, contact Angela on speakactforum@gmail.com.

Buy tickets for the show at The Old Market – at 7.30pm on March 13 – at www.theoldmarket.com/shows/rebel-boob.