Katie Payne’s compelling new monologue, “My Mix(ed-Up) Tape,” takes audiences on a turbulent journey to a Welsh wedding, staged at the Shakespeare North Playhouse in Prescot. This raw and vivid production plunges into the complexities of returning home, as protagonist Phoebe reluctantly travels from London to her childhood valleys for her cousin’s wedding in a Working Men’s Club.
Through Phoebe’s eyes, Payne masterfully sketches an entire social landscape within the play’s taut 70-minute runtime. Directed with palpable intensity by Stef O’Driscoll, the narrative unfolds as Phoebe navigates the boisterous wedding party and confronts her own tumultuous history. She encounters her best friend, Alex, with whom she hasn’t spoken in two years, and grapples with the teenage crush that drove a wedge between them. Amidst the dancefloor chaos, she brushes shoulders with her parents and outspoken aunt, all while trying to avoid expulsion by the bouncer—again.
Though London is now her sanctuary, the valleys stubbornly remember the “messy, attention-grabbing” person Phoebe once was. As a dynamic DJ set, curated by DJ Onai, soundtracks the night, Phoebe finds herself forced to confront this blast from the past, dancing through a reckoning with both a violent history and a problematic present. “My Mix(ed-Up) Tape” is a powerful exploration of identity, community, and the inescapable pull of one’s roots when fury still pulses just beneath the surface.