Theatre News & Interview: love you, bye Is Headed To Bath & The Edinburgh Fringe…And I Got To Interview The Team In Readiness!

Theatre is a wonderful form of escapism and entertainment, but it can also be so much more than that. Theatre can also be a powerful way to tell impactful stories and raise awareness. Violence against women and girls is a very real issue that is being tackled on a daily basis and on the back of this, Uncaged Theatre presents love you, bye, headed to The Ustinov Studio, Theatre Royal Bath and then The Bedlam Theatre, Edinburgh Fringe.

love you, bye follows four friends who have someone close to them go missing and the group are forced to confront a society where such disappearances are met with indifference. In just 60 minutes, the play follows the friends’ emotional journey through grief, anger, and disbelief. The deep societal fractures that allow violence against women to persist are exposed, and the ripple effects it leaves behind are explored. love you, bye is a powerful blend of raw dialogue, aching vulnerability, and wry humour, and challenges audiences to consider what survival really means in a world that’s slow to protect, and quick to blame.

This play is soon to hit the stages of The Ustinov Studio, Theatre Royal Bath and then The Bedlam Theatre, Edinburgh Fringe and this powerful, thought-provoking piece explores the effects of violence on those left behind. It delves into the anger, the grief, and the relentless injustice of a society that blames women for their own victimisation. From the vitriol of social media trolls to the devastating disparity in media coverage for missing women of colour, love you, bye asks: what does survival look like in a world that refuses to change?

With Uncaged Theatre focusing on intersectional feminist work and underrepresented voices, love you, bye is a perfect play for them to stage, and is definitely telling a story that could not be more relevant and crucial.

Before this show takes to the stage, I got the chance to interview writers Meg Pickup and Taruna Nalini and cast members Meg Pickup, Taruna Nalini, Nicholas Downton-Cooper and Billie-Jo Rainbird. Together, they shared the process behind bringing this show to the stage, the difficulties, what they hope audiences will take away from the piece and more. Have a read at what they had to say below, and then after…well, why not take a trip to Bath or Edinburgh to see the show for yourself?

Note: These answers are exactly as I received them, and the responses have not been altered in any way, shape or form.

What is love you, bye?

love you, bye is a love letter to friendship and a call to action in response to the devastating rates of violence against women. It explores the tension between the everyday and the unthinkable — that feeling of saying love you, bye to a friend with the hope you’ll see them again… and recognising that, heartbreakingly, hope isn’t always enough. It’s about care, connection, and the very real fear that underpins the lives of many women and girls today.

What was the inspiration behind this play? What made you want to tell this story, and why now?

The starting point was friendship — the kind that spans years, that holds history, humour, and deep love. I wanted to explore the society we live in through the lens of a group of friends, using their dynamic as a microcosm to reflect the world around us. Our ensemble cast, with its range of lived experiences and identities, really shaped the story.

One of the key themes is the insidious nature of violence against women and girls (VAWG), how it permeates quietly but powerfully through daily life. I also wanted to create queer characters whose queerness is simply part of who they are – not the entire story. The narrative touches on incel culture too, bringing it full circle in a way that feels disturbingly familiar. Much of the material was inspired by real-life experiences (both mine and those around me) and the piece grew organically from the cast I had in mind.

What was the hardest part of bringing this story to life, from a writing, directing an performing point of view?

One of the biggest challenges was staying emotionally present with the source material, especially when the subject matter is so dark and so constant in our newsfeeds. There’s a danger of becoming numb to it – and that numbness is something we wanted to resist.

From a writing perspective, it was difficult to tell a story about violence without showing violence. I didn’t want this to be a domestic violence play – it’s a play about those affected, about grief, aftermath, friendship and solidarity. It was important to honour the real stories we reference, without sensationalising them or turning trauma into spectacle. That balance was tough.

Performing these characters meant finding empathy for every person on stage, even the ones we might disagree with or want to condemn. It’s about exploring the “why” behind behaviour without letting it off the hook. And as a writer, detaching from material that comes from real life, once it’s on stage, can be emotionally challenging too – it stops feeling like your story and starts to belong to the world.

The show sounds like it very much reflects and represents the way the world is presently, and touches on some quite heavy yet vital themes; how did you go about bringing these to the stage, and finding a way to balance these heavier themes with the overall story?

We grounded everything in the friendships, that’s where the light lives. The closeness, the humour, the shared memories – those moments create a powerful contrast with the fear and brutality that underpin parts of the show. When you see how deeply people love each other, the threat of loss hits so much harder.

The show feels real. Phones ring. Drinks are poured. Games are played. These aren’t symbolic representations, they’re lived-in, recognisable behaviours. And because of that realism, audiences can connect with the characters on a very human level. The relatability brings out the humour too. Even in difficult subjects, laughter can be a tool for connection, for truth-telling, and for survival.

Did love you, bye draw from your personal experiences, or rather was it put together with background research or anything similar carried out to aid with the writing, directing and performing of the show?

It’s a combination of both. Many elements are drawn from personal experiences, but a lot of what’s explored is sadly universal among women and girls. That said, we also did research to deepen and widen the perspectives we brought in. The stories told in love you, bye are all based on real-world events, whilst blended with fiction but they live in the very real world we’re all part of.

Leading on from that, how do you balance yourselves when dealing with a show such as this? Do you have any routines or rituals or steps you take to look after yourself when putting together a show that must be quite mentally and physically challenging?

We have regular check-ins before and after rehearsals, emotionally, mentally, and physically. We make space to “decharacter” at the end of a session, stepping out of the emotional intensity so it doesn’t come home with us. It helps that we’ve been friends and creative partners for years – there’s deep trust and care in the room. In Edinburgh, our accommodation is a designated work-free zone. We laugh a lot. We talk. We hold space for each other. That solidarity is vital.

Are there any differences in bringing the show to the stage from Bath to Edinburgh Fringe?

Absolutely. Bath is a home crowd, full of familiar faces and a supportive local scene. Edinburgh is a completely different beast. There’s the pressure of the festival itself – the tight turnaround times, daily get-ins and get-outs, the intensity of the Fringe atmosphere. One of our cast members is flying in from India and even helping to drive a 300-mile trip in an unfamiliar car – it’s all hands on deck!

There’s also the weight of expectation. Industry professionals, TV contacts, international audiences – it feels like being on a world stage. It’s exciting, but it’s also demanding in a very different way.

Is there anything in particular you’re excited/intrigued/most curious about people’s reactions to?

We’ve reworked the piece since the last tour, adding new scenes and building on the audience feedback we received. I’m really curious to see how people respond to the blend of stylised and realistic moments – that contrast is quite bold.

We’re also looking forward to seeing how returning audiences connect with the evolved version, and how new viewers respond to the conversations we’re trying to open up – especially those who may not have fully confronted these topics before. And honestly, just taking up space in the Ustinov Theatre is a huge thing. We’re excited to see how that lands.

If you were to try and convince people to come and see love you, bye in one sentence, what would you say?

Come for the laughs, stay for the truth, and leave with a heart cracked open.

Can you sum up the show in just 3 words?

Friendship. Injustice. Resilience.

And finally – what do you want people to take away from love you, bye?

We want people to leave with a deeper sense of compassion and awareness and with a fire lit under them. A desire to act. To reflect on their own behaviour and the world around them. To recognise the value of friendship, and to honour the women whose stories often go unheard. Change doesn’t happen in silence – we hope this show is a small step toward breaking that silence.

And that concludes the interview! love you, bye is a heartfelt, unflinching, and timely story. One of resilience, rage, and love in the face of an unforgiving world, and at a time where New British Theatre needs all the support it can get, Uncaged Theatre’s love you, bye sounds like a piece well worth seeing. I am absolutely gutted I won’t get a chance to see it myself! But who knows what the future holds, after all – shows previously performed at the Edinburgh Fringe have not stopped there.

You can see love you, bye every evening at The Ustinov Studio, Theatre Royal Bath from July 7th to July 10th, and at The Bedlam Theatre, Edinburgh Fringe every afternoon (12:30pm) from August 19th until August 25th.

You can buy tickets for the Bath run here: https://www.theatreroyal.org.uk/events/love-you-bye/

You can buy tickets for the Edinburgh Fringe run here: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/love-you-bye