When the Long Trick’s Over

I’m doing this for her because this was my sister’s dream. This isn’t my natural habitat. I wouldn’t normally choose this. But she would have.

Two sisters. One dream. The hardest open-water swim in the world.

This triumphant play from Olivier Award-winning writer Morgan Lloyd Malcolm moves forwards and backwards in time across the 21 miles between Dover and Calais as a young swimmer harnesses her mind and body to make the crossing.

Tackling what it means to grieve, both physically and mentally, When The Long Trick’s Over encapsulates the fact that love persists whatever the distance and however perilous the journey is to the other side. And that, sometimes, it means swimming against the tide and against the things that hold you back: the old memories and oil tankers, jelly
fish and Jelly Babies.

This edition was published to coincide with the world premiere production by HighTide and the New Wolsey Theatre, February 2022.

Morgan Lloyd Malcolmis a playwright and screenwriter. Her play Emilia (Shakespeare’s Globe, 2018) transferred to the West End the following year. Her play Belongings premiered at the Hampstead Theatre and Trafalgar Studios (2011) and was shortlisted for the Charles Wintour Most Promising Playwright Award and her play The Wasp at Hampstead Theatre also transferred to Trafalgar Studios in 2015. In 2013 she was chosen as a member of the Soho Six (Soho Theatre). She has co-written several acclaimed immersive site-specific plays with Katie Lyons, produced by Look Left Look Right, including You Once Said Yes, Above and Beyond and Once Upon a Christmas. She was part of the writing team for four of the Lyric Hammersmith’s pantomimes from 2009-2012 and wrote (solo) the Bolton Octagon’s Christmas plays for 2013 and 2014. She has written two large community plays for the Old Vic New Voices: Platform and Epidemic.