Camdram

    presents...

    Like Rabbits (rehearsed reading)
    By Imogen Usherwood

    19:30, Sun 15th February 2026 at Trinity College Old Combination Room
    Lent Week 4

    Content warning (may contain spoilers) Click to expandClick to close
    Depictions of (faked) pregnancy and/or childbirth. Allusions to miscarriages and/or abortion, blood, mental illness.

    “Sorry, my good man, I must have misheard you – I thought you said a rabbit –“
    “Not a rabbit. Rabbits. Plural.”
    “…Pardon?”

    In 1726, a young woman from Surrey called Mary Toft becomes an overnight celebrity when the astonishing news breaks that she has given birth to a litter of rabbits. It’s not true, obviously – but when everyone believes that it is, including King of England and his most senior doctors, the lie becomes harder and harder to keep up. As she finds herself at the centre of a courtly power struggle and, eventually, a national scandal, Mary begins to wonder if she can ever return to a life of obscurity again. Often funny, sometimes poignant, Like Rabbits is the true story of how a young woman royally deceived the whole of England, and those who paid the price.

    A rehearsed reading of Act One of the play, followed by a short Q&A session.

    Contact organizers

    Cast

    Mary Toft
    Jane Denyer
    Ann Toft, Princess of Wales
    Joshua Toft
    Nathaniel St André
    Cyriacus Ahlers
    Richard Manningham
    John Howard
    King George I
    Prince of Wales
    Charlotte Clayton
    Samuel Molyneux
    Duke of Richmond
    Newspaper Boy
    Robert Walpole

    Production Team