Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre will bring the Australian premiere of Funeral Flowers to St Kilda East this July, presenting Emma Dennis Edwards’ unflinching portrait of survival inside the UK care system where class becomes the final boss.
Opening 29 July, the production blends poetry, grit and resilience in a tightly focused stage work. The play will feature Red Stitch Ensemble member Lucy Ansell (Your Name Means Dream, Super, Force of Nature: The Dry 2, Strife), directed by Candy Bowers of Black Honey Company.
Inspired by the true story of Tottenham community leader Gina Moffatt, the story follows seventeen-year-old Angelique, navigating the space between childhood and adulthood while dreaming of becoming a florist amid instability in care systems and family separation.
“This play is potent and very necessary. Half of my career has involved facilitating creativity with young people disadvantaged by cycles of poverty, racism and intergenerational incarceration,” said director Candy Bowers.
“Emma Dennis-Edwards has coined a lyrical work that sings and stings in equal measure. It is a simple and brutally raw story told by a 17-year-old girl tumbling through systems built to destroy her. She is a girl from the margins, easily stereotyped, dismissed or not even thought about. Funeral Flowers places that girl centre-stage and sows powerful seeds of possibility,” she said.
Winning both a Scotsman Fringe First Award and the Filipa Bragança Award in 2018, Funeral Flowers runs from 29 July to 23 August 2026 at Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre, Chapel Street, St Kilda East. Tickets are on sale now at www.redstitch.net with additional performances at The Bowery Theatre in St Albans available via https://creativebrimbank.com.au/bowery .
