Hollie Christian-Brookes’s play, YAWN: A Chronically Fatigued Play heads to the Golden Goose Theatre as part of the Lambeth Fringe.
Previously seen at the Cheltenham Fringe Festival in May 2025, YAWN is inspired by the author’s own farcical experiences and aims to raise awareness of what living with a hidden disability is really like.
Where: Golden Goose Theatre
When: 8 – 9 Oct
Ticket link: https://lambethfringe.com/events/yawn-a-chronically-fatigued-play
Holly tells us more about the show.
What made you want to write this show? It’s a black comedy based on your own experiences – where did the idea come from?
YAWN is inspired by my experiences of becoming ill and getting diagnosed with the hidden disability ME – also known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS).
It is really my Dad’s fault that the play exists at all! I was talking to him the night before I was due to go to quite an important medical appointment that I was dreading. I was so fed up and feeling really negative about going.
At this point I’d had about 18 months of back and forth to various different doctors and specialists who gave varying degrees of help, and I just wanted someone to take me seriously.
He started to make me laugh about how ridiculous the last few months had been – he’s always been really good at seeing the funny side of things – and suggested I write it down somehow others to engage with. The more I thought about it, the more I just couldn’t leave the idea alone.
Having a chronic illness can be a really lonely place, and I suppose I realised this could be a way for me to connect with others who have the condition, while also helping to educate others with no experience of it.
I didn’t know much about it before I was diagnosed and I think a lot that is because it’s a hidden illness and not obvious to spot or understand.
So I just felt really excited by the idea of using my love for performing to do something positive out of a pretty rubbish situation I found myself in.
I started writing the script and had the first 20 pages written within two hours… and the rest, as they say, is history!
Why should audiences come along to see your play and what might they expect?
Although it is an educational piece to a degree, YAWN is at its heart an entertaining one-act show that tells a true story in quite a surreal way – to reflect how bizarre I found a lot of my experiences and interactions!
There are obviously poignant moments throughout the play to show how tough living with this illness can be from day-to-day, but it certainly isn’t a doom and gloom performance. I want people to be able to laugh and learn, and to feel hopeful.
Having ME is obviously not what I wanted, but it has made me value life in a way I never did before and this is the message of YAWN: that often our biggest struggles become our strongest superpowers.
We had our debut performance at the Cheltenham Fringe Festival earlier this year, and our audience was a mix of people with ME/CFS, those who had a connection to the condition in some way, and those who had no experience of it at all.
The feedback we had was beyond what I could have imagined for a first performance, with most of the comments saying how they found it educational and entertaining, and most importantly relatable.
I’d love for us to be able to welcome more people with the condition in London to watch YAWN and hopefully make them feel seen and understood, because having this illness can be extremely lonely.
So, whether you relate to the condition, or just want a good laugh and fancy learning something new at the same time, YAWN is sure to give you a powerful night of entertainment!
Do you find fringe theatre inspiring?
Massively! I love Fringe Theatre because of how accessible and affordable it is, and because it’s a space to experiment and try new things.
I think it’s really important for emerging artists to have Fringe Theatre opportunities, like Lambeth, not only to test new work but to develop as artists and find their creative voices.
I think that’s why you see more issues-based work – like YAWN – at Fringe Festivals because artists on-the-ground can present creative works on the topics that matter most to them, that may otherwise not get industry attention.
We debuted at the Cheltenham Fringe Festival in May this year and without that opportunity YAWN probably never would have seen the light of day.
What’s next for the show?
This is hopefully just the beginning for YAWN! We’ve got a couple of performances in the pipeline for next year, but long-term I’d like to secure funding for touring performances across UK communities to foster a greater understanding of the condition,
I am keen to see how we could work with businesses to support their EDI training. I’d also like to organise a recording of the play that could be streamed ‘National Theatre at Home-style’ so that we can reach as many people as possible – especially those with ME/CFS who are at the more severe end of the scale and are unable to leave the house to come and watch in the theatre.
For those who are planning to come to the Golden Goose Theatre to watch in October, please do come and say hello and let us know what you think!
Only with the feedback and support of our audiences can we keep growing to take the show to new heights.