Elissa Gerrand and WVFRM presents: Act of God

Men’s mental health, class and alternative therapies are explored with humour as a reluctant young man is sent on a ten-week therapy-via-poetry course Written by Jacob O’Connor | Directed by Sean Turner Riverside Studios, 9 – 26 November Instagram: @actofgodplay | www.actofgodplay.com

Exploring masculinity, mental health and class, Act of God is a darkly comedic debut play from writer and actor Jacob O’Connor. With a background as a 12-time World Champion Kickboxer in his childhood, Jacob O’Connor draws on his own experiences growing up working class in Manchester, weaving the poetry he now writes into the script. Act of God follows quick-witted Jack as he’s sent on a ten-week therapy-via-poetry course. Reluctant to engage, he is determined to get through without admitting how he feels, but facing him is a therapist with one deceptively simple question: are you telling the truth, or have you told this story so many times you now believe it? As they talk, play chess and spar over the poems he brings each week, the changing of the subject begins to crack, forcing him to confront the one thing he can’t quite talk his way out of. Rooted in the North and exploring the complicated ways we learn to cope, Act of God asks what happens when those coping mechanisms stop working, and whether saying something sideways still counts as saying it at all.

Writer and performer Jacob O’Connor said, “Act of God lives in the gap between the truth and the version we tell ourselves when it is too tough to swallow. It follows a man from Wythenshawe who has spent years telling himself a story he can live with, until a therapist finds the one thing to get past his world-class verbal footwork: poetry. Every poem drags him back into a memory that won't hold still, and every session becomes a game of chess between them. It's about the guilt and pride men carry and never put down, and the silence between two people who both know the game being played. I spent years in a ring where the first rule is never let them see you're hurt. This play exposes what happens when that rule is broken.”

Jacob O’Connor is an actor, writer and poet from Manchester. His screen work includes Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning (2025) and short films Hitmen (2022) and Life of the Party (2026). As a child, Jacob was a kickboxer, training since the age of 3 Jacob amassed 12 World Titles, 1 European Title and 31 British Titles. Act of God is his debut play and first role on a London stage.

Running Time: 60 mins | Suitable for ages 15+

Company information Director Sean Turner Writer Jacob O’Connor

Cast Jacob O’Connor Further casting TBA

Listings information 9 – 26 November Riverside Studios, 101 Queen Caroline St, London W6 9BN 9 – 10, 15 – 19, 24 – 26, 7:15pm £17.00 – £14.00 (concs) | riversidestudios.co.uk | 02082371000