and I looked at the sky

by Tim Stubbs Hughes

World Premiere produced by 20 South Street in association with Grey Swan
Directed by Julia Stubbs

Betty and John have spent a lifetime making art, telling stories and making each other laugh.
On Betty’s 86th birthday, an old promise comes due.

Betty and John have been married for a lifetime. They know how to make each other laugh and how to irritate each other. Almost everything there is to know about one another.

Betty is an artist. John is a writer. On her 86th birthday, he’s been digging up the last of the carrots to make her birthday cake. She’s wondering why there’s only one candle on it.

Between cake, memories, arguments and laughter, they circle around the thing neither quite knows how to say. Decades ago, they made a pact: when their creative lives were over, they would choose their own ending.

Now they have to decide whether the promise they made when they were young still belongs to the people they have become.

Funny, tender and intimate, and I looked at the sky is a new play about a long marriage, creativity, ageing and what it means to choose how we live. And how we leave.

This compelling new play marks the full-length debut of emerging playwright Tim Stubbs Hughes in collaboration with director Julia Stubbs.

Cast

Mary Tillett | John Rayment

Creative Team

Venue

Omnibus Theatre, London.

Performance dates *World Premiere

Tuesday 15 September – Saturday 3 October 2026 at 7:30pm | Sundays 20 & 27 September at 4:00pm.

Running time

90 minutes, no interval.

Suitable for 16+ | Content Information: contains discussions of death, dying and a suicide pact between two older people, alongside themes of ageing, illness and infidelity. There is strong emotional content throughout.

The online programme for and I looked at the sky can be viewed HERE

Reviews

“A thoughtful and quietly courageous performance that examines difficult questions with sharp, passionate dialogue, a committed cast and solid staging.

Betty and John are successful creatives with long careers: John a notable writer, Betty an accomplished artist. Their marriage has endured, with their commitment to creativity paramount. They have deliberately chosen not to have children, and they live in a remote village surrounded by nature so they can focus on their craft. But as they age, they find they can no longer produce work as powerful as they once did. What is life if they are no longer relevant? Their discussions are involved, passionate and articulate.

The staging serves the play well. This is a piece all about story, and so the set is minimal. A kitchen table sits centre stage, around which most of the debates take place, keeping our attention on the dialogue, with a few packing boxes at the back to be used as needed. The lighting design is particularly effective, not only picking out key moments but also creating visual aids such as a TV and off-stage rooms.

The storyline is highly relevant, and the discussions are fierce, emotional and nuanced. What do we leave behind when we die? Do we want to choose how we go, or leave it to chance? Do we know when we have become irrelevant? These questions are unsettling, as the audience inevitably reflects on their own futures. There is a moving interlude when John reveals he has returned to a novel he failed to finish years earlier and completed it. A brief discussion of the plot hints at new possibilities and a flash of former brilliance, which could undermine their decision.

Both actors are strong, but Tillett carries the piece with her emotional dexterity. Ultimately, this is a thoughtful and quietly courageous piece of theatre that asks questions most of us would rather avoid. Its strengths lie in its sharp, passionate dialogue, its committed performances and a staging that never distracts from the story.”

EVERYTHING THEATRE

“It is timely that Tim Stubbs Hughes’s new play should be opening now, when the topic of assisted dying is again on the political agenda.

Under the direction of Julia Stubbs, the relationship between Betty and John is carefully drawn and beautifully acted.

John is reconciled to his lot, Betty more inclined to rage against the dying of the light.

If the love that initially brought them together is sometimes hard to perceive as they bicker back and forth, there is a touching moment when they finally embrace and cling to each other for dear life. And there is a sublime moment when they have finally drunk their cocktail, and their faces are gently illuminated by the last rising sun that they will ever see.”

THE PEG REVIEW

“Many themes are explored along the way in Tim Stubbs Hughes’ two-hander. The longevity of human connection, ageing, creativity and, above all, the right to choose how we live and ultimately how – and when – we leave this world.

What this show has in abundance is a poetry of language that the duo deliver with a stop-start musicality. Director Julia Stubbs cues the pauses on the right beat while the dialogue has the rhythms of a rhapsody. The tempo shifts from ballad to protest song; sometimes sad, sometimes full of angst. A description of sunlight on the bedroom wall is full of melancholy and, as they pack away the material clutter of their lives, we are reminded of Stoller and Leiber’s song of disillusionment, ‘Is That All There Is?’

… there are some sharp reflections on life as John and Betty wade through their past, looking for themselves.

and I looked at the sky takes its time to explore its key themes. But when it shines, it sparkles with wit and nostalgia and a precarious kind of longing.”

THE SPY IN THE STALLS

“John and Betty have spent many happy years together – but on her 86th birthday, she’s become weary of what lies ahead, and sad about her creative past life that she feels no longer defines her. The couple made a pact many years prior – when they are ready, they’ll choose their own ending, taking power in what they feel is one last choice available to them.

It is a touching concept, that is packed with believable emotion through Tillett and Rayment. The slow, packing away of their lives is symbolic and allows for multiple opportunities for them to explore memories linked to various items, even those that initially would appear insignificant.

Tillett and Rayment have good chemistry together, and the final scenes pack an emotional punch that leaves a lasting impact on the audience.”

RATED REVIEWED

Age has everything to do with it. Age is everything. Age is all we have.

Tim Stubbs Hughes (he/him) is a writer, photographer, and artist.

He trained as an actor in the late 1980s at Manchester Polytechnic School of Theatre, then completed an MA in Theatre Arts (Directing Option) at Goldsmiths College, graduating in 1996. Following this, he established a new writing theatre company, Weaver Hughes Ensemble, which he co-ran from 1997 to 2009.

He has produced and directed new work at prominent London Fringe and Off-West End venues as well as taking work to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Around 2012, he began to explore photography, and from 2019 to 2021, he completed an MA in Photography at Falmouth University. His photography has been exhibited in galleries in the UK and Germany.

and I looked at the sky is his debut full-length play.

In Rehearsal

The cast for and I looked at the sky features two accomplished actors as Betty and John – Mary Tillett and John Rayment.

Mary Tillett

Recent theatre credits include Badger in Wind in the Willows by James McDermott (Sheringham Little Theatre), Taz and Annie in Swans Are F***ing Arseholes by Emma Zadow (Canal Café Theatre), Liz in With Immediate Effect by Annie Power (Old Red Lion Theatre), Betty in You Butterfly by Steve Eddison *winner and Mrs Follensbee in The Magic in Christopher by Lee Brodie *runner-up in the British Theatre Challenge (Jack Studio Theatre), Cecilia in Behold! The Monkey Jesus – A (kind of) Restoration Comedy by Joe Wiltshire Smith (Jack Studio Theatre), and as part of the ensemble in Small Island (National Theatre) and Far Away (Donmar Warehouse).

Recent screen work includes the shorts Don’t Damn The Sun, Free Spirits, I Want To Believe! and the feature The Five Weekends I Come Home.

Mary has written short pieces for the theatre and is currently developing her first full-length play.

Reviews for You Butterfly

“…the laurels go to Mary Tillett… manages a very difficult, very well-characterised role as a woman reliving childhood trauma, and she nailed it” LONDON PUB THEATRES
“It stands ahead of the others for the coherence and reach of its writing and the performance of Mary Tillett” BRITISH THEATRE GUIDE

Reviews for Behold! The Monkey Jesus – A (kind of) Restoration Comedy

“Mary Tillett as aspiring art restorer Cecilia is a standout performer” THE REVIEWS HUB

John Rayment

Recent credits include Almost The Birthday Party by Paul Kalburgi at The Old Red Lion; Auntie’s House by Paul Stone at The King’s Head; The Night Before Christmas for PHA Pantomimes, at Chelmsford Theatre; The City That Walks on Water on Southend Pier for Blade Education; Plankton Dreams for Rising Tides at The Space; a short tour of Timeless by Brian Coyle, first at The Space on the Isle of Dogs, then at 53two in Manchester, and the Alma Tavern in Bristol, and then in 2024 at the Edinburgh Fringe; The Tide and Chekhov in Moscow, both at The Space; I Don’t Dance for So & So’s Capsule Festival during lockdown; Journey’s End – a UK tour for Immersion Theatre, followed by a month’s residency of the play a year later in Ypres for Mesh Theatre Co.

Other work includes a production of Lazytown in Abu Dhabi, Secret Cinema’s immersive Back to the Future, and assorted audiobooks, voiceovers and audio dramas, notably Emissary of The Daleks; Avalon – Bayban’s Bounty; Now Is The New Dark and Rose Tyler – The Dimension Cannon: Other Worlds for Big Finish Productions.

John also has a sideline in poster design, producing artwork for several dozen different shows over the last few years.

Reviews for Timeless

“Rayment’s performance in Timeless is incredibly emotive. Their portrayal of Martin makes the character incredibly endearing, and their acting is very natural, so much so that at times it is easy to forget that Rayment is indeed acting.” ★★★★ THEATRE WEEKLY
“A moving exploration of the distress and disorientation of memory loss… Rayment admirably portrays the protagonist with great skill and sensitivity” ★★★★ THE UPCOMING
“a must-see performance” ★★★★ SINNERS

Recent acclaimed work by director Julia Stubbs

Still Here by Mari Lloyd

2025 Revival for a South Wales Tour in March, and a London/Liverpool Tour in September, produced by Still Here Productions in association with 20 South Street and Grey Swan, directed by Julia Stubbs

One of ‘The Top 20 Shows We Saw Across Wales’ in 2025 – THE EDIT

★★★★ “incredibly powerful” EVERYTHING THEATRE

★★★★ “excellent” BUZZ MAGAZINE

Sparks by Simon Longman

2024 Revival on the London Fringe, produced by Upper Hand Theatre Company, directed by Julia Stubbs

“masterful” ★★★★ LONDON PUB THEATRES

“intelligent theatre” ★★★★ LONDONTHEATRE1

“amazing” ★★★★ WHAT’S GOOD TO DO

What I Really Think of My Husband: Thomas Hardy and his Wives by David Pinner

2023 Premiere on the London Fringe, produced by Sarah Lawrie for And Tomorrow Theatre Company, directed by Julia Stubbs

“a talented cast that shines” ★★★★ LONDON PUB THEATRES

Seven and half Years by Mark Glentworth

2023 National Tour and 2022 London Fringe, produced by MMGMUSIC Productions, directed by Julia Stubbs

“this is really great storytelling” ★★★★ NORTH WEST END

“polished performance” ★★★★ MUSICAL THEATRE REVIEW

“a moving piece of theatre” ★★★★ REVIEWSGATE

OffFest Award Nomination from OFF WEST END for the performances at Greater Manchester Fringe

Still Here by Mari Lloyd

2023 Premiere on the London Fringe, produced by 20 South Street in association with Still Here Productions, directed by Julia Stubbs

Standing Ovation Award Nomination from LONDON PUB THEATRES for the performances of Phillip John Jones and Emma Kaler

“a real treat” ★★★★ FAIRY POWERED PRODUCTIONS

“splendid performances” BROADWAY WORLD UK

“genuine insight and emotion” THE REVIEWS HUB

“moving and true” BRITISH THEATRE GUIDE

and I looked at the sky

Reviews

Age has everything to do with it. Age is everything. Age is all we have.

In Rehearsal

In My Name

Still Here

Seven and a half Years [tour]

Thin Toes