MY INSPIRATION: Jade Byrne

North East actor, writer and creative Jade Byrne (Pricks the Play, Pricks the Short Film) takes the musical adaptation of her 2019 children’s publication Daisy Donald on the road this month. Here, she tells us what inspired her to create the show.

“I was diagnosed with Type-1 Diabetes at four years old in 1989, and was so lucky to have such brilliant parents who made my diagnosis feel like my superpower. My mum in particular was honestly my guardian angel. She always made me feel special for having Type-1 and made it so clear it wasn’t a barrier, just a hurdle we have to keep jumping over.

“It never stopped me from doing anything because of how my parents dealt with it and how they made me feel about it. When my mum passed away from Leukaemia in 2019, I wanted to give a bit of my mum’s perspective back to the kids with Type-1 in case they didn’t feel about it the way I did.

“I’d always wanted to write a children’s book and I got speaking with JDRF UK as they were at the time (today they’re known as Breakthrough T1D UK), and I mentioned I wanted to write a children’s book and they said could you have it ready for World Diabetes Day 2019, which at that time was four months away, and me being the people pleaser I am, I crazily said yes.

“They put me in touch with Penguin Publishers who wanted to publish it but when they told me it would be World Book Day 2020, I maybe stupidly, maybe sensibly, turned their deal down as I had promised for 2019 and I always deliver on a promise, so I self-published instead.

“The children’s book, Daisy Donald, educates anyone who doesn’t know about Type-1 Diabetes but absolutely most importantly it emotionally supports other children with Type-1 Diabetes as well. It doesn’t hold back on the truth and I hope it makes other Type-1’s feel seen and heard.

“Once the book was written it was always the plan to turn it into a family show and, having worked with the wonderful Ruth Mary Johnson on my first show, Pricks, and given her expertise in children’s theatre, there was nobody else I was going to work with on this. She introduced me to the cracking composers Jeremy Bradfield and Calum Howard and that was it, the first Daisy Donald Dream Team was created.

“Now we hit the road with a magical, musical show, and I can’t wait to share it with everyone. You don’t even need kids to come and see it, everybody of every age I’m sure will absolutely love it.”

Daisy Donald is performed at Hullabaloo Theatre, Darlington on Friday 11th-Saturday 12^th October, and Arts Centre Washington on Thursday 24^th October.