top of page
Practically Imperfect landscape.png

“Finds new terrain”

The Guardian on Clare Norburn's writing

The very private PL Travers (Lottie Walker) lives quietly in Chelsea. Out of the blue, her very own creation, Mary Poppins (Joanna Brown), suddenly appears in Travers’ study, asking difficult questions Travers would rather not answer. Rather than the Banks family, Mary Poppins has come to sort out the acerbic PL Travers herself. But Travers is a force to be reckoned with too. So who will control the narrative and win the battle of wills?

 

Soundtracking the fun-filled chaos, Mary Poppins performs the kind of music PL Travers really wanted in the Mary Poppins film - Edwardian songs such as Lily of Laguna.

A collaboration project with Blue Fire Theatre. ​Award-winning writer Clare Norburn's brand new play with music, directed by BAFTA-nominated BBC director, Nicholas Renton (Mrs Gaskell’s Wives and Daughters, Musketeers, Lewis). Starring acclaimed actor Lottie Walker as PL Travers and actor-musician Joanna Brown as Mary Poppins​.

THANK YOU TO OUR FUNDERS

The Practically Imperfect 2026 tour is supported by The Sylvia Waddilove Foundation. The Wolverhampton performance is supported by The Grimmitt Trust. The Wales performances are supported by the Colwinston Charitable Trust. The Glasgow performance is supported by The Pear Tree Fund for Music and The Hugh Fraser Foundation.

TOUR

Subscribe to The Telling's mailing list
Be the first to know about our upcoming tours and more:

  • facebook
  • twitter
  • Black Instagram Icon
  • YouTube
  • Spotify

Thank you to our funders past & present

Angel Early Music logo featuring an angel playing a horn
Ambache Charitable Trust logo - words only
Cockayne_Logo transparent.png
LCF_Logo_Core_RGB.png
Foyle_Foundation.jpg
Arts Council England Lottery Fund logo featuring Lottery crossed fingers image
Continuo Foundation logo
Baroque at the Edge.jpg
Cockaigne Fund Logo with FS name, Transp Background.png
Colwinston Charitable Trust logo featuring a cute cartoon mouse with whiskers and curly tail
Darkley Trust logo
Garfield Weston Foundation logo featuring large white W in blue box
Golsoncott Foundation logo featuring G, F and a treble clef on a music staff
Gwendoline and Margaret Davies Charity logo featuring white silhouettes of two women in a blue circle
The Radcliffe Trust logo featuring a line drawing of the Radcliffe Camera
SGMT landscape logo colour transparent.png
Unity Theatre Trust logo featuring a theatre comedy mask

The Aspinwall Educational Trust - The Fidelio Charitable Trust - Gale Family Charity Trust - The Grimmitt Trust - The Hadfield Trust - Harold Hyam Wingate Foundation - The Hugh Fraser Foundation - The Ida Carroll Trust - The James Beattie Charitable Trust - James T Howat Charitable Trust - The Marchus Trust - The Nugee Foundation - The Pear Tree Fund for Music - The Samuel Gardner Memorial Trust - Scops Arts Trust - Shoresh Charitable Trust - Sir John Fisher Foundation - Souter Charitable Trust - The Stafford Trust - The Sylvia Waddilove Foundation - The Thriplow Charitable Trust - The W E Dunn Charitable Trust - The W M Mann Foundation - The Wixamtree Trust

© 2025 The Telling

Registered Charity No. 1181802

Privacy Policy | Safeguarding PolicyEDI PolicyRefund Policy | Terms and ConditionsUse of Cookies | All Policies

bottom of page