Award-winning Oxford playwright Heather Dunmore‘s new play The Serpent’s Tooth was originally inspired by a good friend who was forbidden any contact with her daughter and granddaughter.
“Witnessing her unbearable pain was heartbreaking so I began to research the subject and to my horror discovered that it is incredibly common, although the sufferers rarely speak about it, such is their sadness and shame,” she explains.
“So The Serpent’s Tooth aims to throw a spotlight on our new world of fractured families who encourage a lethal form of cancel culture and entitlement, which threatens to destroy a world where family is everything,” Heather adds.
‘It is estimated that over two million grandparents are denied contact with their grandchildren’
The first draft was written in 2019 and after some really positive feedback is premiering at OFS on July 28 with Another Theatre Company before heading to Edinburgh Fringe.
“We were given an opportunity to showcase an extract at a scratch night at the Old Fire Station in October 2022, which sealed our fate,” Heather remembers. “The response from the audience was overwhelmingly supportive so we decided to produce the full play in Oxford and take it to the Edinburgh Fringe 2023.”
The brilliant theatre director, Cathy Turner, founder of Another Theatre Company, was on board from the start, and The Serpent’s Tooth will be performed by four talented local Oxford actors, Jenny Johns, Karen Ford, Hetty Bentley and Deborah Bale.
“The intention is to give a strong message about the world we live in now, so the play is a stark, stylised production and while there’s humour, it can be dark in places,” Heather adds.
Jane Jackson, the founder of the Bristol Grandparents Support Group, is also fully behind The Serpent’s Tooth and confirmed the importance and necessity of highlighting this difficult subject:
“This play depicts the cruelty that is unjustified estrangement. Those of us who have experienced it call it a ‘living bereavement’. It is estimated that over two million grandparents are denied contact with their grandchildren which equates to over two million grandchildren.
“I hope this play will show the audience the lifelong damage that can be done, not only to the grandparents but importantly to the grandchildren, who love everyone.”
The Serpent’s Tooth is at the Old Fire Station on Friday July 28 (Book here https://oldfirestation.org.uk/whats-on/the-serpents-tooth/) before moving to Paradise in the Vault in Edinburgh on August 5-12 and 14-18, and at the Blackmoor Theatre, Exmouth 25-26 August.
