I Am Collateral Beauty

Libby is a young black woman from Luton, an athlete and trainee barrister with aspirations of becoming a writer. Everything however is not as it seems, as one day she ends up lost in a maze, where she meets 8 strangers; all unsure of how they got there, all they know is that the maze has an ominous message. "9 will enter, 1 will leave". It's a new Millennium and another Monday afternoon day shift at the casino, as such there are hardly any customers in. Libby doesn't mind the quiet time; she uses it to study or write. Libby aspires to become an author and needs to write two proposals. One is a bid for funding, the other is a 500 word short story she is submitting to a magazine. When she has no customers on her table, she uses the quiet to plan and prepare both documents in her mind; during breaks she writes or records each thought and edits them later that night at home. This is Libby's routine for the 6 weeks leading up to her law exams; wake up in the morning, work-out/train, get the bus to work, day shifts at the casino, falling asleep over the laptop at night. Every day the same. Her life is about these four things:- work, study, train and write. Until one day she wakes up in a maze. Unsure of how she got there or how she will get out. All Libby knows is that she needs to get out so she can finish her exams, pursue her career as a writer and her life can finally start. "I Am Collateral Beauty" invites you to view Libby's world as she tries to become all she wants to become; as she pursues a changeless sense of who she is; where she has come from and seeks to reach the place she wants to go. Part of The Collateral Beauty Series (CBS) which explores the story of Libby; a young black woman from Luton, an athlete and trainee barrister with aspirations of becoming a writer. CBS explores what it is like for her to grow up in a post-war, post-industrial, working class town as she tries to become all she wants to become; pursue a changeless sense of who she is; where she has come from and seeks to reach the place she wants to go. CBS tells this one story in three different ways:- "I Am Collateral Beauty" is a collection of flash fiction and short stories woven together to create a suspense/thriller novel. "I Can See What The Dark Looks Like" is an immersive, digital, poetry, theatre play created using multi-media performance. "Poetry Emotion: Collateral Beauty" is the prose and poetry of the CBS, with journey guide similar to Naz's earlier poetry book; "Butterfly Drinks Crocodile Tears" however, this is a three part book based upon the multidimensional poetry therapy practice model developed by Mazza .