Debra Baker (Angela) and Denzel Baidoo (Jay) in 'This Might Not Be It' at Bush Theatre (photo by Ellie Kurttz)
Extended due to popular demand until 7 Mar. Tickets are now sold out – email [email protected] to join the waiting list.
★★★★ “Startlingly vivid” The Stage
★★★★ “The beauty of this piece is that it speaks in a universal language” The Times
★★★★ “Chetin-Leuner is a gifted writer. One to watch” Broadway World
‘You care a lot, that’s nice. It shows your age.’
Jay’s new. He’s just started as a temp at an NHS Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service office. He arrives with little more than a fledgling desk plant and well-meaning plans to change the broken system.
Angela’s seen it all. She’s been working in this building for over 30 years and nothing seems to faze her – except perhaps this eager new hire who seems determined to challenge her at every turn.
Exhausted by archaic protocol, Jay starts to bend the rules to breaking point in a desperate attempt to help their patients. Trust is shattered, professional boundaries are crossed and Jay discovers the reality of what is truly at stake.
This Might Not Be It unflinchingly confronts the hard truths of our crumbling NHS mental health services. This candid portrayal of human lives at the mercy of the system is written by former Bush Emerging Writers’ Group member Sophia Chetin-Leuner and directed by Ed Madden (Octopolis). Produced by Broccoli Arts (Salty Irina) and Jessie Anand Productions (Orlando).
SHORTLISTED The Women’s Prize for Playwriting 2020
LONGLISTED Verity Bargate Award 2020
Looking for show information and content guidance?
This Might Not Be It Self-Care Guide and Content Warnings
Alys Whitehead is a scenographer based in London and the South East. She has been an Associate Designer of Dissident Theatre and NDT Broadgate.
As designer, theatre includes: The Angry Brigade (LAMDA); Sorry We Didn’t Die At Sea, Snowflakes (Park); The Retreat (Finborough); Lysistrata (Lyric Hammersmith); SAD (Omnibus); Maddie (Arcola). As associate designer, theatre includes: Wordplay (Royal Court); Zoe’s Peculiar Journey Through Time (Theatre Rites/Southbank Centre and International Tour); Sea Creatures (Hampstead). As assistant designer, theatre includes: Dixon and Daughters (National).
Broccoli Arts produces work for stage and page, primarily for/by/about lesbian, bisexual & queer people who experience misogyny. Founded by Salome Wagaine in 2019, now run by Eve Allin, Broccoli exists to produce theatre that has variety, ingenuity and relevance. We enable queer writers and creatives to make work that is not defined solely by identity. We aim to produce work which is enjoyable, political & theatrical.
Productions include Eleanor Tindall’s Before I Was A Bear at the Bunker Theatre and Soho Theatre.
Chloe Stally-Gibson (she/her) is a freelance production manager. She is also the technical manager for ChewBoy Productions and is an associate of Zoo Co Theatre Company.
Her recent work includes: Pass It On and As We Face The Sun (Bush); Perfect Show For Rachel (Barbican); Welcome Home (Soho); The Secretaries (Young Vic); Caligari (ChewBoy Productions, winner of the 2022 Untapped Award); Space to Be (Oily Cart).
Ed Madden‘s productions include: The Limit (Royal Ballet); Octopolis (Hampstead); Yellowfin (Southwark); A Table Tennis Play (Underbelly, Edinburgh Fringe); A Number (The Other Room, Cardiff); The World’s Wife (Welsh National Opera) and Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons (Warwick Arts Centre, Edinburgh Fringe, UK Tour).
Fran Cattaneo is a London-based freelance Casting Director and Senior Casting Assistant, having previously worked at the offices of Heather Basten and Stuart Burt.
Working across screen and stage, her screen credits as a [Senior] Casting Assistant include; International Emmy-nominated Dreaming Whilst Black for BBC and A24, Luna Carmoon’s debut feature Hoard, House of Spoils with leads Ariana DeBose and Barbie Ferreira for Blumhouse and Amazon Studios, and BAFTA-winning short form programme How To Be A Person for Channel 4. Her first Casting Director credit was for the short film, Octopus, which screened at the 2022 BFI Flare Festival. She has been lucky enough to continue with her love of queer-based short films by leading on BFI Network-backed I Know A Place and Co-Casting transgender rights activist Jake Graf’s Stone.
Coming from a predominately theatre background, Fran has been fortunate to assist on stage productions such as; Fair Play, Red Pitch and House of Ife for The Bush, Beneatha’s Place for the Young Vic, God of Carnage for the Lyric Hammersmith and Cabaret at the KitKat Club. She has recently cast Selina Thompson’s R&D Twine for the Yard Theatre, starring Ronke Adekoluejo.
Jessie Anand Productions makes theatre and opera that is fresh and playful. Since it was founded in 2018, the company has been nominated for eight Offies and premiered six new plays. Productions include the Offie-winning Yellowfin at Southwark Playhouse, the acclaimed Pennyroyal at the Finborough, and Orlando, which transferred to New York in 2023 following its success in London and Edinburgh. The company has also produced opera and musical theatre, including Antisemitism: a (((musical))) (Camden People’s Theatre) and Cabildo (Wilton’s Music Hall / Arcola Theatre), and is currently working with Maz O’Connor to develop her new musical The Wife of Michael Cleary, which recently won the MTI Stiles and Drewe Mentorship Award. Jessie Anand Productions is supported by Stage One.
Kanoko is a Japanese stage manager trained in the UK.
Her recent projects include:
As Stage Manager on Book: The Interview (Park Theatre), Es & Flo (workshop – Wales Millennium Centre / Kiln).
As Deputy Stage Manager: La Cenerentola (British Youth Opera).
As Assistant Stage Manager: The Jungle Book (Chichester Festival Theatre), Rock Follies (Minerva, Chichester Festival Theatre), Medea (@sohoplace), The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Gillian Lynne).
Kanoko has also worked in events, including The Friends Experience (Amsterdam), X-Games CHIBA 2023 and 2024 (Chiba, Japan), and Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games (Tokyo, Japan).
Lighting Designer Laura Howard trained at LAMDA as a recipient of the William and Katherine Longman Charitable Trust Scholarship. Laura’s previous credits for the Bush Theatre: Invisible, Clutch, Elephant and The Kola Nut Does Not Speak English.
Sound designer Max Pappenheim’s recent theatre include The Night of the Iguana and Cruise (West End); A Doll’s House Part 2, Assembly, The Way of the World (Donmar Warehouse); Henry V (Shakespeare’s Globe/Headlong); Village Idiot (Nottingham Playhouse/Ramps on the Moon/Stratford East). Online credits include The System, Barnes’ People, The Haunting of Alice Bowles (Original Theatre) and 15 Heroines (Digital Theatre). His work in opera and ballet includes The Marriage of Figaro (Salzburg Festival); Miranda (Opéra Comique, Paris); Hansel and Gretel (BYO/Opera Holland Park); Scraww (Trebah Gardens) and Carmen: Remastered (ROH/Barbican). Radio credits include Home Front on BBC Radio 4. Max is an Associate Artist of The Faction and Silent Opera.
Paulina is a German stage manager who trained in the UK. Recently she has worked as an Assistant Stage Manager on The Interview (Park Theatre), Werther (Grange Park Opera) and Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons (Harold Pinter Theatre). She has also worked as a followspot operator on Bonnie and Clyde (Garrick Theatre) and Good (Harold Pinter Theatre).
Prior to working and studying in the UK, she worked for the RLT Neuss in Germany, both on tour and in house for two years in various stage management roles.
Rory Thomas-Howes is a queer, West Midlands-born producer and writer trained at East 15 Acting School and Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. His work focuses mainly on underrepresented voices in bold new writing, and he has been longlisted for the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting, shortlisted for the Sit Up Award, the VAULT Five and the Charlie Hartill Award, and won an Off West End Commendation and Theatre Weekly’s Best of Fringe Award.
As a producer, he works both freelance and as Associate Producer to Grace Dickson Productions, working on productions such as Lady Dealer (Roundabout at Summerhall), SPLINTERED (Soho) and Project Dictator (New Diorama), and has produced numerous sell-out shows at venues and festivals including Soho Theatre, New Diorama, Pleasance, Sheffield Theatres & Edinburgh Fringe Festival, with runs ranging from single work-in-progress performances to extensive national tours.
Sasha is an autistic sound designer and composer. Their recent work in theatre includes:
As Sound Designer: The Two Gentleman of Verona (CSSD); Scroogelicious, Rapunzel (Theatre Peckham).
As Co-Sound Designer: Holes (CSSD); Owners (Jermyn Street Theatre).
As Associate Sound Designer: The Frontline (CSSD).
As Assistant Sound Designer: Garbo & Me (CSSD), Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell (Coach and Horses).
As various technical roles: Matilda The Musical JR., Moana JR. (James Allen’s Girls’ School); Dance of Death, Sarah, Dead Poets Live: He Do The Police In Different Voices, Tiger Is Coming (Coronet Theatre).
Sophia Chetin-Leuner is a writer for theatre, TV and film. Sophia had two plays Shortlisted for the inaugural Paines Plough Women’s Prize for Playwriting in 2021: This Might Not Be It and Porn Play, which was also on the Verity Bargate Award shortlist 2022. Sophia is currently on the BBC Writer’s Drama Room (2023) and is developing original TV pilots with Two Brothers and Mam Tor. She was chosen for the Bush Theatre’s Emerging Writers’ Group in 2019.
Awards include Dalio Foundation Scholarship, Tisch NYU (2017-18); Austin Film Festival Second Round, Arif (2017); Best of the Vaults, Save + Quit, published by Nick Hern Books (2017); HighTide Academy Winner (September 2016).
