Boldly trauma-conscious and survivor-led theatre and participation arts for social change.
COMPLEX
Written and directed by Nell Hardy
from a co-created process with
Alain English, Jezebel, Anna Lasagna,
Lona Lee, Ocean Phoenix, Claire Reay,
and others who have chosen to
remain anonymous
Original Cast:
Alain English, Lisa Harbron, J, Jezebel,
Anna Lasagna, Lona Lee, Yuxuan Liu,
Lata Nobes-Sinha, Ocean Phoenix,
and Claire Reay
Original Scenographic Advisor: Lona Lee
Additional lyric-writing support: Alain English
Co-produced by Nell Hardy and Claire Reay
"Not
them.
Me.
Tell
me."
Ilo thinks she's about to save lives. Oli thinks they're about to be saved. Two letters arrive on the same day, leading them both into a labyrinth that stretches even their overactive imaginations, and turns everything they thought they knew about themselves upside down - in all the wrong ways.
COMPLEX unpacks the Kafkaesque phenomenon of being told you are “too complex” for complex trauma treatment.
Calling on sci-fi, nonsense poetry, melodrama and music where realism just isn't real enough, we might have to sing to you once or twice - but only when we really don't know what else to do.
“As a safeguarding practitioner, this is a must. COMPLEX is essential viewing—it powerfully exposes how systems fail those they’re meant to protect. With humour, honesty, and deep compassion, it captures institutional gaslighting and the human cost of being labelled “too complex.” Delivered with authenticity and love, it’s both heartbreaking and vital for anyone committed to safeguarding practice and systemic change.” - Michelle Burns, Guarding the Flock
RAT was thrilled to present its first full-length co-created show in November 2025.
Inspired by recurring themes from our first year of core group sessions, as well as research findings from the PATHWAY study at Kings College London, this show is a celebration of what we all know from lived experience and academic evidence about the power of peer support in a culture where complex trauma just isn't acknowledged and all we can rely on is each other.
It is also a call to all those with power over mental health spending to invest in the survivors who are doing everything they can to keep themselves and each other going.
“COMPLEX has stayed with me. The themes are still reverberating through me. It is such a powerful, gritty, witty, clever, and deeply triggering piece of work in all the ways that important theatre should be. I left feeling shaken, frustrated, moved, and profoundly seen.
I would love to see COMPLEX reach audiences with influence and power people in government, public health, national mental health spaces, and those shaping policy. I also think it should be seen by those who need a deeper understanding of what living with poor mental health actually feels like. Your work offers that insight with urgency and integrity.”
- Nola Sterling, Sterling Insights
We can't think of a more suitable place to have premiered the show than the Anatomy Theatre & Museum at Kings College London's Strand campus. Not only does it honour the trust that the PATHWAY Study team has put in us to highlight their findings, and their correlation with our lived experiences. From 1927, the original audiences in this space came to watch animals being dissected. The first audiences of COMPLEX observed the way in which stigmatising clinical responses to complex trauma symptoms seek to dissect the individual to find out what is rotten within the survivor - rather than observing and listening to what is rotten in the world outside the survivor.
Missed it? We're hoping to tour it and get it in front of more of the people who need to see it - so please do stay tuned.
And, if you're interested in hosting it in your venue or bringing it to your teams, please get in touch!
“It was so good. My favourite thing about these things is seeing such a quality of writing and acting even when it’s not a big show. I’ve been talking about it with a lot of friends about how I feel like it’s given me more depth and language to talk about mental health and understand a deeper more difficult aspect about how the system is flawed. As difficult as this sort of play is, I think more people should see it.”
- anonymous audience member
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“Such an impactful performance by RAT, felt so privileged to be among the audience of COMPLEX” -
Dr Jacqueline Sin,
City University of London
“I really liked it - although I normally avoid theatre at pretty much any cost!
I really think your play should be mandatory viewing for all mental health professionals, for commissioners and whoever else holds any power over mental health services.”
- anonymous audience member
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"Thank you so much for writing such an incisive and articulate play.
I found it uncomfortably close to the truth both as a survivor, but also as a civil servant.
I almost had to leave the room, which was a new experience for me, as at one point I found it a bit overwhelming. Thankfully a joke, or scene change broke the tension (it’s like you planned it!).
There was a good use of grounding techniques and humorous breaks in the tension.
Seriously well done."
- anonymous audience member
