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Rainy Day Theatre presents...
Ever since she was little, Amy has written a To Do List for as long as she can remember. And everyday, at school, at home, at university she must complete her list. Or else.
But when an unexpected tragedy implodes the carefully structured life Amy has built for herself she is forced to re-evaluate. What if achieving isn’t everything? Is it possible she has been making lists instead of living?
Obsession, grief, and the rocky transition from childhood to adulthood – To Do Lists explores with humour, warmth, power points and paper the mental health landscape for young people now.
RIP. Amy has had enough. She has torn up her to do lists, her diary and her notepads. It’s time she confronts what is hiding behind her need to be productive. But the only way to do that is to go backwards…
At age 9, paper was not for lists or spreadsheets or boring shit. It was for colouring and character costumes and card games with her grandma. Her grandma who helped Amy with her homework of drawing her family tree. Amy learns she comes from a long line of grafters and hard workers – Jewish Arab immigrants like her grandma and Jewish Russian refugees on the other side of her family. Whose path to the comfort and stability Amy knows has been peppered with struggle.
But when Amy fails an important school exam she invents a system to only propel her further into success. Her To Do Lists. A-levels, Oxbridge, playwriting prizes Amy will stop at nothing to achieve them all. Until tragedy strikes and her old methods are no longer the safety net she thought she needed.
To Do Lists was created working with mental health arts charity The Horsfall which uses creativity to support young people aged 16 – 25 living with mental health struggles, disability and neurodivergence. To Do Lists is a tactile theatre piece, part youtube tutorial, part girlboss- too -close- to -the- sun cautionary tale.
It also looks at the root causes of mental health struggles in young people – how these are impacted by heritage, gender, the education system and parental grief.
About Rainy Day Theatre
Rainy Day Theatre is a Manchester-based collective of young early-career artists and creative leaders making bold, multimedia-infused theatre rooted in accessibility, neurodivergence and playfulness. To Do Lists is our debut production as a collective.
We came together out of a shared frustration: that boundary-pushing fringe work from the North struggles to reach the audiences and industry figures it deserves. Manchester has exceptional creative talent that deserves to be visible beyond the Rainy City without artists having to move to London to do so.
To Do Lists is our proof of concept. A show that uses paper, playing cards, projection and creative captions to pull audiences into an intimate, sensory storytelling experience that is theatrically adventurous.
THE HORSFALL & 42ND STREET
This show is in development and supported by The Horsfall – Manchester’s Young People Mental Health Charity ‘42nd Street’s creative engagement space.
42nd Street is an innovative Greater Manchester young people’s mental health charity with 40 years’ experience of providing free and confidential services to young people who are experiencing difficulties with their mental health and emotional wellbeing.
Running time: 60 minutes (no interval)
Age guidance: 16+
Content Warnings: This play contains distressing or potentially triggering themes. You can find detailed content information here.
Pre-Theatre Dining: Audience members get a 33% discount on food bought at The Latchmere pub between 6pm – 7pm, Monday – Friday! Just show a staff member your ticket confirmation email or e-ticket. Book in advance to avoid disappointment and we hope to see you soon!
Amy Lever
Amy Lever (she/her) is a writer and actor from Manchester who’s passionate about creating work that centres under-represented stories, connection and mental health.
Amy was named a winner of the Alpine Fellowship Prize for Playwriting (2023), a Channel 4 Writing for TV Awards finalist, selected for Channel 4 x New Writing North Development Scheme and was a part of The Warner Bros Writers Exchange Programme with Warner Bros, The Royal Exchange and Wall to Wall.
In 2025 she was an artist in residence at the Horsfall (Mental Health Arts Charity) and a commissioned playwright with UNESCO’s Manchester City of Literature for a playwriting residency in Nanjing, China.
This year Amy received BFI funding for her debut short film ‘Sweet Nothing’ as well as later receiving the Roundhouse film fund for her next short ‘Playing Mermaids.’ As well as being a finalist for the North East Playwriting Prize.
Amy has been commissioned by and worked closely with Contact Theatre, Manchester International Festival, HOME, Lowry, Sheffield Theatres, Waterside Arts and Manchester Jewish Museum.
“A writer to keep an eye on” (The Stage)
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