How Can A Body Withstand This?

A powerful solo theatre show exploring grief, abortion, and the stories imposed on women's bodies. When her best friend's medical crisis becomes a national abortion headline in America, one woman retraces the days that led there, determined to reclaim the person at the centre of the story.

Set in Tennessee in the immediate aftermath of Roe v. Wade, How Can a Body Withstand This? explores friendship, memory, healthcare, and what it means to love a place while questioning the forces that shape it. Years later, now living in London, she finds herself confronting how easily political upheaval and human suffering can feel distant when viewed from afar. Moving between Tennessee and London, the play asks audiences to close that distance and consider abortion not as an abstract debate, but as a deeply human experience.

Developed through a commission at the 2026 MishMash Festival.

Written and performed by Mimi Harlow Robinson.