‘What would you do to save your son? Everything? Anything? Lie?’

It's Michael Thomas's birthday. A cake sits in his mother Evelyn's living room, its candles burning undisturbed.

On the fifteenth anniversary of Michael's fatal stabbing, Jackie wants to clear her conscience, whilst Evelyn's got a big speech to deliver. Are some things better left unsaid?

Mel Pennant's play seeds explores the human story behind a tragedy, through the eyes of those left behind: two mothers united in sorrow, and sharing the hardship of protecting their sons – one in life, and one in death.

seeds was shortlisted for the Alfred Fagon Award, and first produced on a UK tour in 2020 by tiata fahodzi and Wrested Veil, in association with Leeds Playhouse, Soho Theatre and Tara Finney Productions.

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'seeds pushes at the limits of maternal love, asking how far a mother would go to protect her son'