From The Mouths of Babes Comes Beautiful Wisdom

It’s tough being fifteen, let’s face it, who would want to be a teenager again? Yes, there is a whole load of freedom, but with that comes angst, spots, mood swings, and often being ostracised. No thanks, but imagine going into the trying years and dealing with death, cancer, divorce, the trials of social media, and moving to a completely new area? Yet, interestingly, from these extra levels of turbulence can come stories of hope and humour or even wisdom. Often explored in literature plays and films, teenage angst can sometimes bring out profound insight. Find out more from From The Mouths of Babes Comes Beautiful Wisdom here

There is that beginning of the teenage years, caught between childhood dependence and adult responsibility, conflict with parents, and a struggle for autonomy. Rapid body changes, uses significant energy, lead to mood swings and tiredness, whilst the emotional part of the brain is very active, making teens react more emotionally and impulsively, partly because the logical, decision-making part is still developing.

In the 20th century, there was a rise in books and films dealing with the Rites of Passage, celebrating the social movement of teenagers as they move in and out of groups or into or out of statuses of critical importance. From the 1950s onwards, once nearly all teenagers crossed all social backgrounds, the media world responded to this explosion.

Books of importance included The Catcher in the Rye,  J.D. Salinger, which dealt with isolation, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, by Judy Blume, looking at coming-of-age and identity,  To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee regarding a moral standpoint, or Anger Is a Gift by Mark Oshiro that deals with grief, activism, and finding your voice, or Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, by Roddy Doyle, exploring the boy’s adventures with friends, school life, and growing awareness of his parents’ deteriorating, violent marriage, culminating in divoirce, to name but a few. These books are not just for teenagers to read; they often work just as well for adults who may be dealing with teenagers in their own lives.

So then, imagine what happens when your raging teenage hormones are further complicated by divorce, serious sickness, domestic abuse, sexual assault, living within a conflict or war zone, or the sudden death of your mother and the reappearance of your absent father.

A play, based on the writer /actor Ollie Maddigan’s real-life story, Olive Boy, is forced to change schools and move in with a man he barely knows. In a hopeless attempt to stay sane, he decides that the only way to move forward is to pursue the chances of finally getting a real girlfriend. And of course, at this point in life, aged fifteen, like most things, it does not go to plan…

After his mother’s death, Ollie is sent to live with his estranged father. At a new school, surrounded by strangers, he clings to the ordinary distractions of adolescence: girls, snap streaks, social status and the naïve hope that a first girlfriend might make life feel normal again. “The Voice” (played by Ronni Ancona) is the recorded presence of a therapist, heard throughout the play but never seen, reflecting the awkward distance he felt in teenage counselling and the wider silence around boys expressing grief.

The title Olive Boy comes from a nickname Ollie’s mum gave him at birth, a small and affectionate joke that has taken on a new weight since her death. The olive also becomes a symbol for everything Maddigan tries to swallow since her death. The bitterness of loss, the strangeness of growing up and the awkward attempts to get through the next bite of teenage life. At fifteen, he carries the bravado of a boy pretending he’s fine, caught between the silences expected of young men and the halting conversations of therapy. Over time, what was once unmanageable began to settle into the everyday. Grief did not disappear, but reshaped itself, becoming part of the person he is still learning to be.

First staged at the Hope Theatre in 2021, the show quickly gained attention at the Camden Fringe due to its inspiring message. After a sell-out Edinburgh Fringe run and a 6-week national tour, The Olive Boy launches at Southwark Playhouse in Borough from 14th January to 31st January 2026. This is an unapologetic, fast-paced, irreverant and funny in one, smash-and-grab-go style explosion.

From the mouths of babes comes beautiful wisdom, so says the saying, but it’s more than just words, it is heartfelt, gut-wrenching honesty that, in this play, comes with hilarious, heartfelt comedy based on real-life experience. A darkly comic coming-of-age story about grief, boyhood and learning to live with love and its absence.

Find out all you need ot about The Olive Boy at SouthwalkPlayhouse.co.uk here

Southwark Playhouse Borough
77-85 Newington Causeway
London SE1 6BD

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