A Beginner's Guide to Widowhood
Omar Khan presents
By Rae Mainwaring & Omar Khan
Friday 2nd May 2025
Doors: 7pm
Performance: 7.30pm
Running Time: Approx 70 minutes
Tickets: General Admission (£15)
Concession (£7.50)
Suitable for Over 65s, Students, Artists, Unemployment Benefit, Disability Benefit. Please note proof of concession eligibility may be asked for upon arrival at the Box Office. Complimentary tickets are available for Pas supporting those with access requirements.
No Questions (£3)
If you can’t afford any of the other ticket categories but still want to see the show, then please purchase this one – no questions will be asked. (Limited to 8, in advance and online only)
Age Rec: 14+ (contains some strong language and references to death/grief)
One woman’s journey through love, loss, and unexpected laughter
Suria has lost her husband (she hasn’t misplaced him or anything – he’s dead.)
Join her & the kids in Turkey, on what will become “the worst holiday ever.” A trip fraught with new challenges: navigating bad advice, sympathetic head tilts… and the ‘W’ word.
Unfortunately, the turbulent dynamics of a newly fractured family aren’t the kind of baggage you can just stow away neatly in the overhead compartment…
Produced in partnership with the national charity, Widowed & Young and inspired by real-life experiences, A Beginner’s Guide to Widowhood is dark-but-uplifting one-woman show exploring the experiences of young widows, loss, and why it’s okay to talk about death.
OMAR KHAN: DIRECTOR + CO-WRITER
Omar is a director, facilitator and writer based in the Midlands, with a focus on collaborative, non-hierarchical processes. His work engages communities and enables conversations around topics including: identity, death and spirituality. He is an alumnus of Birmingham REP’s Foundry Scheme, Tamasha’s Directors Programme & RTYDS’s 18 Month Residency. Directing credits include: Mr Burns: A Post Electric Play - Derby Theatre, Kilburn (Not London) - New Perspectives; & Ritual - Birmingham REP
RAE MAINWARING: WRITER
Rae Mainwaring is a writer and theatre maker from the West Midlands. She studied at the University of Birmingham and began work as a Drama Practitioner delivering community engagement projects. She is an alumnus of Birmingham Rep’s Foundry Programme and an associate of Graeae Theatre company’s Beyond programme. She was one of Northern stage’s Supported Artists ‘21 and BBC Writers room/Coventry Voices cohort. Rae’s auto-biographical play Bright Places is currently being developed for television with Left Bank Pictures. Writing credits include: Primetime, Women & Theatre @ Bham Rep/Podcast, Fat Cat/Confessions @Coventry Shop Front, Bright Places @ Birmingham Rep/China Plate Bite Size Festival + The Last (Plastic) Straw @ Theatre Iolo.