The text of ‘Abortion, a Love Story’ “went to press before the end of rehearsals and so may differ slightly from the play performed”. Flattery’s story thus begins, and remains, open to interpretation; unlike most shows that require audience participation, however, this story actually works. It’s funny, vulnerable, brilliant, and it contains one of the most memorable lines in literature, delivered by a girl called Lucy to a packed audience during “showtime”: “See my problem with all of you, and that has always been my problem, is that I just don’t like any of you very much and I never have, you bunch of pricks.” I can’t remember whether I’d started doing theatre in Cambridge when I read this sentence, one lunchtime in Newnham Hall, but I do remember reaching for a pen and writing it down, in the middle of a light blue sheet of paper, and placing it on the front of my notes binder, like a mantra or a charm; it’s still there.
First published in Show Them a Good Time, The Singing Fly 2019
A Personal Anthology 