Preview
  • Gilly Gilly

  • By: Cush Jumbo
  • Narrated by: Cush Jumbo
  • Length: 1 hr and 11 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (352 ratings)

Access a growing selection of included Audible Originals, audiobooks, and podcasts.
You will get an email reminder before your trial ends.
Audible Plus auto-renews for $7.95/mo after 30 days. Upgrade or cancel anytime.

Gilly Gilly

By: Cush Jumbo
Narrated by: Cush Jumbo
Try for $0.00

$7.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $6.53

Buy for $6.53

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

The kitchen is the beating heart of every home—but for one woman summoned to an empty house, it’s also the portal to a complicated past. Forced to confront her family’s dark history or risk perpetuating it for generations to come, the woman sets out to do what her mother and grandmother before her never could. Written and performed by Olivier Award nominee Cush Jumbo (The River) and directed by Tony Award® nominee Phyllida Lloyd (The Iron Lady), Gilly Gilly is a haunting and powerful new play that explores the joys and complexities that exist between parents and children—and asks just how many secrets one kitchen can hold.

Portions of this audio drama contain mature language and themes. Listener discretion is advised.

Except(s) from Darling Greatly: How The Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Parent, and Lead by Brené Brown, Copyright Ⓒ 2021 by Brené Brown. Used by permission of Gotham Books, and imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.

If you’ve been affected by the subject matter, these organisations can provide support:

USA: https://www.rainn.org/

UK: https://www.thesurvivorstrust.org/

©2022 Cush Jumbo (P)2022 Audible, Ltd
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

About the Creator and Performer

Cush Jumbo is well known for starring in US series The Good Fight and can be seen as the lead in Britbox's The Beast Must Die opposite Jared Harris. Cush is the author of Josephine and I and has received an OBE for her contribution to Drama. This year, she received an Olivier nomination for Hamlet at The Young Vic Theatre, and starred in Netflix thriller Stay Close. Cush is currently filming her Apple TV series Criminal Record in which she stars and Executive produces.

About the Director

Leading director of theatre and film. Her stage productions of Mamma Mia! and Tina: The Musical have been globally successful – both receiving Olivier and Tony nominations and awards. For the Donmar Warehouse she directed the all-female Shakespeare Trilogy with Harriet Walter which transferred to St Ann's in New York and was filmed for BBC and PBS. Phyllida also directed Harriet in Mary Stuart with Janet Mcteer at the Donmar, which transferred to the West End and Broadway. Other New York stage productions include The Taming of the Shrew for The Public Theater at the Delacorte and Josephine and I with Cush Jumbo at The Bush Theatre and Joe's Pub New York. She has also worked at the Royal Court Theatre, National Theatre and the RSC. Her work in opera has garnered an International Emmy, a FIPA d’Or, the Royal Philharmonic Society Award and The South Bank Award. Her productions include works for the Royal Opera House, English National Opera and Opera North. Phyllida’s film credits include Herself with Clare Dunne which premiered at Sundance Film Festival, The Iron Lady for which Meryl Streep won an academy award, and Gloriana: A Film for the BBC. After the success of the stage show of Mamma Mia!, Phyllida went on to direct the film for Universal Pictures. In 2010, Phyllida was awarded a CBE for her services to drama.

Featured Article: Best of the Year—The 10 Best Audible Theater Listens of 2022


Audible Theater takes what you thought you knew about going to a play and turns it on its head. With a vast array of extraordinary voices that go beyond the stage (and the book), we're delivering a new vision of what theater can be. Some of the best productions this year were recorded in front of a live audience at our own Minetta Lane Theatre, while others were honed and polished in our studios, created strictly to be heard.

What listeners say about Gilly Gilly

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    218
  • 4 Stars
    73
  • 3 Stars
    27
  • 2 Stars
    22
  • 1 Stars
    12
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    262
  • 4 Stars
    36
  • 3 Stars
    13
  • 2 Stars
    6
  • 1 Stars
    9
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    203
  • 4 Stars
    69
  • 3 Stars
    26
  • 2 Stars
    11
  • 1 Stars
    15

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

EMPOWERING, funny and deeply moving. A roar!

Such beautiful storytelling that doesn't shy away from tackling a difficult subject. Inspiring and empowering. And now I want to bake some scones!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Interesting segue!

Enjoyed the intriguing concept and powerful performance. Would only have appreciated just a notch or 2 up in the volume of her mother’s voice on the phone. Recommend for a good, relatively brief listen.., just the right amount of content.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Destressing.

The narration is superb and the story well conceived and written. The topic is true and deeply troubling.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The pacing was excellent

Cush Jumbo explores a universal timeless issue creatively, honestly, and with strength and hope. So good!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

INTENSE- beware

Seriously, if you have been affected by sexual abuse just be aware of the intensity of emotion. Thankfully nothing graphic, but disturbing and uplifting all at the same time.
Production note, it’s almost impossible to hear the person on the “other end“ of the phone. Either let us imagine or turn the damn thing up. Frustrating.
Performance is Oscar worthy or whatever the audible version is.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Powerful

So much covered in such a short amount of the me so worth the time

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Impressive one woman show

Well done but predictable. An excellent performance. Important topic and upsetting of course but did not love the play.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Powerful

Starts out like a visit to grandma's house and quickly unfolds multigenerational trauma, all neatly packed away and then perfectly baked in an hour session where the 3rd generation finally gives voice and takes control. How many of us have lived through this?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

POWERFUL

Dark subject, matter masterfully written and emotionally read.
I couldn't stop listening.
It angered me; it made my soul ache; it made me sad; it made me feel powerless.
This story will haunt me.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Powerful and moving

This play about generational trauma is both entertaining and challenging, it deals with the subject of childhood sexual abuse from the perspective of the child of a survivor.
This is one of those rare pieces that manages, in a very short time, to pack a very powerful message into an entertaining story.
The narration was spot on. I really enjoyed it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!