CALLBOARD: Designing a "Love" Story

Lolly Whitney-Low, Set Designer of THIS IS NOT ABOUT ME.

When you see this show, you will understand when I say, no stone was left unturned in the making of THIS IS NOT ABOUT ME. The rehearsal room and design meetings were such a warm, welcoming place that meant every idea was held and examined with love. 

As is often the case with theatre-makers, the process began by frenetically shouting over each other, screaming when we had a new idea and generally mining each other’s brains for nuggets of gold. Then, we calmed down a little. Took stock. And began to refine the ideas into a form that we liked.

The set exists as a real-world manifestation of Grace’s mind. A pop-up book come to life. Everything stitched from the wandering daydreams of a passionate storyteller. From our run in Edinburgh, we already had a visual language of red string and yarn, borrowed from detective boards and synapses. You are inside Grace’s head, or as the script better states, “Grace is giving Pepe Silvia.”

We later learned about Red String Theory. A piece of Chinese mythology, stemming from Taoism that speaks of an invisible red chord that connects those who are destined to meet. The Red Thread of Fate. A delightful coincidence that fulfils its own prophecy.

Fortunately, our writer, Hannah Caplan, is as ferocious of a thinker as her character, Grace. So the script does as much of the thinking as we as a creative team did. The script describes the set as “an impasto catacomb.” From that we began to consider how to encase the story. 

We landed on a blanket fort. A softly furnished fairytale world where everything both is and isn’t. When an audience member enters the space, they should be under no illusion that things are normal here. Truth is neither here nor there in this story. Fact left the room a long time ago. 

Jean Baudrillard talks about the idea of simulacra. Simulacra are copies, signs, or representations that have lost their connection to any original. This world we have created is one of craft. A delicately constructed reality that strays from the real world so strongly that it no longer exists in it. We made beautiful impressions that transport the audience into this written world where they are asked to engage in the questions of truth and honesty inside the simulacra. 

“What [Grace] lacks in budget she makes up for in imagination.” This statement gave us immense freedom. “Any technology used should be a little bit wrong. Kidnapped from a jogged memory, or wheeled, incognito, out from an underfunded primary school circa 1996.”

This attitude of getting things wrong and still figuring it out is what I credit for the gorgeous amount of games and tricks and joy that exist in this show. Instead of creating awkward sex scenes, the actors leap into puppets and the audience laughs. Instead of smoking an obviously fake joint, Hannah crocheted one. We were allowed to follow every idea to its most ludicrous conclusion and in that place, magic. 

Making THIS IS NOT ABOUT ME. has been a freeing, uplifting experience and I hope now you have a taste of why.  

THIS IS NOT ABOUT ME. runs from May 13 - June 7, 2026. Buy tickets here.

Header image: Amaia Naima Aguinaga and Francis Nunnery in THIS IS NOT ABOUT ME. Photo by Inigo Woodham-Smith.