The Farmer's Wife

<p><i>Change is inevitable, is important. The</i><br><i>birds know it – they’ve adapted their songs</i><br><i>because of the noise of the motorway. The</i><br><i>foxes know it – some of them have even</i><br><i>moved into towns where there’s more</i><br><i>food to be had . . . do you understand</i><br><i>it’s change or die!</i><br><br>In <i>The Farmer’s Wife</i>, one day holds a lifetime. Three generations of women from the same family – a daughter, a mother and a grandmother – share a kitchen, their stories overlapping as the past and present sit side by side.<br><br>The animals need feeding. The bills need paying. The forms need filling in. The meals need cooking. The vet needs calling. The list never ends.<br><br>At the centre of it all is one woman, holding everything together and beginning to wonder how much longer she can.<br><br>Inspired by Helen Rebanks’ Sunday Times best-selling memoir and shaped by the voices of women in farming across Cumbria, Hannah Khalil’s original play captures both the beauty and the weight of a life rooted in the land.<br><br><i>The Farmer’s Wife </i>is a story of resilience and community in a changing world.<br><br>This edition was published to coincide with the production at Theatre by the Lake in September 2026.</p>