Pieces of My Life – An Open Invitation
https://youtube.com/shorts/kDwLTh78bCg?si=t5zgQMOmPaDXUmxi
I hope this message finds you well. I’m reaching out to share my one-man theatre production, Pieces of My Life, which premieres at the Tobacco Factory in May 2026 before heading on a UK tour. As someone with lived experience of the systems and challenges this show addresses, I’m looking to collaborate with charities and organisations who share a commitment to social justice, mental wellbeing, and equality.
Pieces of My Life is a raw, personal story set in a home podcast studio. It draws on real moments from my life—growing up in social housing, navigating racism, losing my mother, and grappling with mental health. This piece does not offer solutions—it offers space. Space to feel, recognise, and speak about what too often remains unspoken.
Social Housing
The play highlights how housing is more than shelter—it’s tied to memory, dignity, and identity. After my mother passed, I was given only two weeks to clear out her possessions from our home. Two weeks to grieve. Two weeks to pack up a lifetime. Losing both my mother and my childhood home at once was devastating—but the rigid timeline made it feel almost impossible. I understand we’re living through a housing crisis, but stories like this—stories of grief compounded by inflexible policy—are seldom heard. This show gives those stories a voice.
Mental Health
Mental health is an undercurrent throughout the play—not as a dramatic plotline, but as a lived, quiet struggle. It examines how trauma often goes unspoken, especially for working-class men and Black men, who are taught to carry pain silently. Grief, anxiety, and the weight of expectations form a thread that many will recognise, even if they’ve never spoken it aloud. The piece creates room for vulnerability, modelling what it means to break silence and begin healing without shame.
Racism
Racism is portrayed not as an abstract concept, but as a daily, cumulative weight—through subtle profiling, systemic neglect, and the quiet erasure of cultural identity. The show reflects on how racism often operates in the background of everyday life—until one moment forces it into focus. Rather than point fingers, Pieces of My Life invites honest reflection, helping audiences see how easily these patterns become normalised, and how damaging that normalisation can be.
Thank you for reading this. I’d be happy to share more about the show, a trailer, or upcoming dates if you’d like to explore how your support will help bring this together.
All the best,
Kirris Riviere
Writer/Performer – Pieces of My Life