In an increasingly serially monogamous society, we all face the possibility of more serious breakups in our lifetime than ever before.
In a new comedy, theatre and storytelling show, Radio 4 and Edinburgh Fringe regular, Rosie Wilby, interweaves a rich, romantic narrative about two people connecting over a shared love of Richard Hawley music and the London skyline, through to their eventual breakup emails and the visits of three ghosts from their romantic future, past and present.
Although Rosie never thought she would be inspired by Chris and Gwyneth, she asks, is ‘conscious uncoupling’ the way forward?
Explaining the origins of the show's title, Rosie said: "I first heard the phrase in 2014 and, like many people, was initially a little confused and amused by it.
"Was it just the latest celebrity fad? But a little further digging revealed a really compassionate concept that absolutely chimed with me and who the actual creator of the idea was - author and marriage and family therapist, Katherine Woodward Thomas.
"While my main task is to entertain, I'm keen to make people think about how we end relationships, particularly in the light of new technology-enabled 'bad behaviours' like 'ghosting'."
If we could erase our past loves as Kate Winslet and Jim Carrey’s characters attempt to do in the film Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind - would we eventually decide against it as they do?
How does modern technology play a role in the unravelling of relationships?
Trailer for Rosie Wilby: The Conscious Uncoupling from Wendy B on Vimeo.
The Conscious Uncoupling marks the final part of an oustanding trilogy of solo shows investigating love and relationships.
The first one, The Science of Sex, explored attraction and played at The Fringe in 2010.
The middle part, Is Monogamy Dead?, toured in 2013 and has spun off into a book which is due for release on August 3 - the same day her show opens. It's an hilarious and thought-provoking mix of memoir, heartache and science that puts 21st century relationships under the microscope.
The award-winning comedian previously discussed the disruptive impact of serial monogamy and called for new, more compassionate language around relationships, friendships and separations in her TEDx talk, Is Monogamy Dead?, Radio 4 Four Thought piece A New Currency Of Commitment and New Statesman articles.
The Conscious Uncoupling premiered at Tristan Bates Theatre First Festival 2016 – a performance which prompted London’s Southbank Centre to book it for their Festival Of Love.
The show was shortlisted, via a public vote, for Funny Women Best Show 2016 and is directed by Colin Watkeys (Jack Klaff, Ken Campbell, Claire Dowie).
Rosie also has a companion lunchtime chat show for the first week of The Fringe at The Counting House at 12.15pm, with other acts including Pippa Evans and Juliette Burton sharing their breakup stories.
Rosie Wilby will be performing her show, The Counting House (Loft), from August 2 until 27 (not 14) at 6.30pm. For tickets, click here.
For more details and updates, visit Rosie's website at www.rosiewilby.com or follow her on Twitter @rosiewilby
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article