Saving Myself
by Tim Stubbs Hughes
World Premiere produced by 20 South Street in association with Grey Swan
Directed by Julia Stubbs
Folklore, ritual, and survival collide in a visceral new solo drama
“Nothing is easy the first time, Lilly.”
One night. One flat. One unlit candle.
Lilly has always been the girl things go wrong around. Pets go missing. Toys break. Silences settle over the family home. People tell stories about her. In the end, she starts to believe them.
Now she is alone, surrounded by books and half-remembered rituals, trying to find the words. The women in the old stories found another way to say it. Tonight, Lilly will find hers.
Moving between realism, poetry, folklore and ritual, Saving Myself is a bold, haunting solo play about one woman’s fight to take back her own story.
“A heavy, important play.” Camden New Journal, Pick of Camden Fringe 2026
“An honest, poetic, challenging and passionate tale sensitively told.” @justsawthis.review, Brighton Fringe 2026
After its World Premiere at Brighton Fringe and a run at Camden Fringe, Saving Myself comes to The Bread and Roses in Clapham for one night only.
Written by Tim Stubbs Hughes.
Directed by Julia Stubbs.
Performed by Jessamy James.
Cast
Jessamy James.
Creative Team
Director: Julia Stubbs | PR & Photography: Grey Swan | Produced by 20 South Street in association with Grey Swan.
Running time
45 minutes
Content information
Strong language, references to sexual violence, trauma, misogyny, social shaming, and coercive control.
Age guidance
Adults, 16+
The online programme for Saving Myself can be viewed here
Performance dates *World Premiere
Lambeth Fringe 2026
14 October, 7.30pm
The Bread and Roses Theatre, Clapham
Tickets
£12 / £10 – www.lambethfringe.com
Camden Fringe 2026
13 August, 9pm • 19 August, 3.45pm • 20 August, 6pm
The Libra Theatre Cafe, Camden
Brighton Fringe 2026
2 & 3 May, 7pm • 9 May, 9pm • 10 May, 5pm
Grania Dean Studio – Lantern Theatre @ ACT, Brighton
SAVING MYSELF marks the debut play by Tim Stubbs Hughes, who says,
“This play came from a need to explore what happens when trauma takes over your sense of self. Lilly turns to ritual because it feels like the only thing she can control. I wanted audiences to be right there with her, witnessing the danger, the humour, and the desperation in that moment.”
Lilly is played by Jessamy James, an actor with experience in classical work, new writing, open-air and children’s theatre.
Jessamy is also a co-founder of The Whole Pack Theatre, a London-based all-female Shakespeare company, whose 2025 production of Richard II was nominated for an OffFest Award.
Reviews & Press
“Is Lilly ‘broken’? Is there a demon inside her? Tim Stubbs Hughes’ wrenching new play asks how someone can rebuild themselves after assault and poses questions as to how we treat victims. Walls are littered with images of women who have “gone mad”, trapping Lilly with constant echoes of shame.
Saving Myself is a difficult watch, thanks to Jessamy James’ agonising portrayal of suffering; at turns reflective and spiky.
Julia Stubbs’ direction ensures a dynamic, layered performance, with a disorientating set allowing dream sequences to easily flow. A heavy, important play.”
Camden New Journal – Pick of the Camden Fringe
“A solo show about a young woman struggling to overcome a trauma. Thoughts come fragmented: she’s emotionally erratic, trying to work out a way forward, to place her thoughts in order. Will ritual help? Will the understanding that she’s neither the first nor last bring relief?
The character attempts to heal in a series of disjointed false starts. The language is poetic in its faltering bursts. The actor’s performance is assured.
There is sincerity and heart in this well-intentioned piece dealing with a troubling subject. It was the last performance of its Brighton run, but hopefully not its final outing… an honest, poetic, challenging and passionate tale sensitively told.”
Justsawthis.review
Bold, unsettling new writing Brighton Fringe exists to champion.
Brighton Journal
Read the preview article
A visceral solo drama exploring trauma, folklore, and self-discovery.
Planomato
Read the preview article
Brighton Fringe Theatre Focus
A New Solo Play about Trauma, Belief and Survival.
FringeReview
Read the preview article
Best Shows to See This May
A world premiere solo play about trauma, mythology and survival.
Brighton Journal
Read the preview guide here
In Rehearsal
Photography by Grey Swan
TIM STUBBS HUGHES 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 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 return to photography and, from 2019 to 2021, completed an MA in Photography at Falmouth University. His photography has been exhibited in galleries in the UK and Germany.
His debut full-length play, and I looked at the sky, is planned for a premiere on the London Fringe in autumn 2026.
JESSAMY JAMES is an actor, writer, and theatre-maker.
Jessamy is also a co-founder of all-female Shakespeare company, The Whole Pack, playing Caliban and Gonzalo in The Tempest, Helena and Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Richard in The Whole Pack’s OffFest-nominated production of Richard II.
Other theatre credits include The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Thirteenth Night (British Touring Shakespeare), Alice Through the Looking Glass (Strange Fascination Theatre), Macbeth (Bowler Crab Theatre), Lifeline (Produced by Adam Page), Romeo and Juliet (Bowler Crab Theatre), and A Christmas Carol (Chapterhouse). Other recent projects include the short film Post, directed by Lisa Guerts, and the audio drama Gavin’s Graveyard Gold, produced by Wyrd Works.
Reviews for the latest productions by Julia Stubbs
★★★★ “Set in a boxing ring, this powerful two-hander follows Welsh teens as they navigate identity, family, and growing up, creating a vivid, emotional world that’s both intimate and deeply affecting… Excellent” Everything Theatre on Still Here
“Still Here is not just a play – it’s an experience that lingers in the heart long after you leave the theatre. Mari Lloyd’s work stands as a testament to the enduring power of Welsh storytelling… The direction by Julia Stubbs deserves particular praise for its ability to balance the play’s moments of levity with its heavier emotional beats.” The Edit on Still Here
★★★★ “Simon Longman and Julia Stubbs have done a masterful job of portraying women looking in on what makes an ‘ordinary’ life with ‘ordinary’ people and, not being able to achieve that, finding solace in each other.” London Pub Theatres on Sparks
★★★★ “With a talented cast that shines, and choreography that shimmers as time and place shift effortlessly, there is a fluidity of language and motion and ideas.” London Pub Theatres on What I Really Think of My Husband – Thomas Hardy and His Wives
Reviews for previous shows directed by Julia Stubbs at Brighton Fringe
2023
★★★★ “Glentworth rises to the challenge of the role magnificently… Directed by Julia Stubbs, the result is a moving piece of theatre.” ReviewsGate on Seven and a half Years
2019
★★★★ “a challenging show with a nuanced and powerful solo performance” FringeGuru on A Voice
Reviews for Jessamy James
“Theseus becomes a female duke played with a highly plausible louche ennui with occasional spurts of decisiveness by Jessamy James. James then becomes a bespectacled, anguished Helena, a feisty Titania and a hilarious Snug, wearing a woolly hat and being a gloriously unconvincing Lion. She is a multi-talented actor.” Susan Elkin on A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Nothing is easy the first time, Lilly.
Saving Myself started life as a 10-minute piece for the scratch night of new writing (w)Hormones: here we go again, produced by Upper Hand Theatre Company in November 2025 at The Hen & Chickens Theatre.
Scratch Night Performance
Photography by Grey Swan
