The Lady Gardeners
​Company background

​The Lady Gardeners' - Babs Horton, Deborah Edgington and Julia Faulkner - major focus is to bring older women's voices to the forefront and challenge the way society thinks about ageing. Together, this trailblazing trio brings over eighty years of collective experience in theatre and the creative industries — and a fierce, unapologetic commitment to living life to the full.


​Hot on the heels of sell-out runs at Theatre Royal Plymouth, Norwich Theatre, Mayflower Studios, Nottingham Playhouse, Yvonne Arnaud Theatre and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2024, The Lady Gardeners are thrilled to be bringing their award-winning show In the Lady Garden to audiences across the UK.
Who we are
​Babs Horton - writer
I spent my early career in teaching and was Head of English in an adolescent psychiatric unit when I started writing my debut novel  ‘A Jarful of Angels’ which won the Pendleton First Novel Award and was shortlisted for the Authors Club First Novel Award. Since then I have written seven  novels - four published by Simon and Schuster. I'm a writing fellow for the Royal Literary Fund and run writing workshops for Theatre Royal Plymouth.

​My first play, ‘Wings’ was long-listed for the Bruntwood Prize. ‘In the Lady Garden’ is my second play.​
​Deborah Edgington - director/producer
I have over 22 years of experience working in theatre, which started in fundraising for a large regional producing house. Although I had a long and varied career, it wasn't until twelve years ago that my directing career began and since then my work has regularly garnered 5 and 4-star national reviews.

Credits include: ‘In the Lady Garden’ (Theatre Royal Plymouth, Edinburgh  Fringe Festival and UK Tour),) ‘Muswell Hill’ (White Bear and Park Theatre), ‘My Children! My Africa!’ (Tristan Bates and Trafalgar Studios), 'African Gothic' (Park Theatre), 'Black Mass', 'The Seagull' and 'A Streetcar Named Desire' & the opera, ‘La Boheme’.
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​In 2008, I co-founded 10x10, a national playwriting festival, which I produced for 10 years.
Julia Faulkner - actor
I have been in the theatre industry since graduating from the Guildford School of Acting in my early 20s and have performed in London’s West End and in over 13 UK tours.
Recent theatre credits include: Alice 'In the Lady Garden' Theatre Royal Plymouth, Edinburgh Fringe Festival and UK Tour), Widow Twankey 'Aladdin', Queen Aggravain 'Once Upon A Mattress', Granny 'Gangsta Granny', Georgette 'One Last Waltz', (Greenwich Theatre & The Bridge House), Jackie 'Find Your Way Home' and multiple roles in 'The Little Match Girl' (Theatre at the Tabard).
Other theatre roles include: Sheila 'Relatively Speaking', Julia 'Fallen Angels', Mrs Clandon 'You Never Can Tell', (Broadstairs weekly rep and Shaw’s Corner), Ranyevskaya 'The Cherry Orchard', (The Jack Studio), Arkadina 'The Seagull', tour, Bawd/Dionyza 'Pericles', Witch 'Macbeth)' Tamora 'Titus Andronicus' and the title role in Phaedra.
I have recorded audiobooks, appeared on TV and in TV commercials and worked on two award-winning short films.
​Industry Accolades

Awards and nominations:
  • In the Lady Garden was I of the 7  Edinburgh National Partnership shows supported by the Pleasance in association with the Theatre Royal Plymouth, to receive a four-week run at the Pleasance Courtyard at the 2024 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.  
  • The play was shortlisted for the 2024 POPCORN Writing Award.
  • It was a Brighton Fringe Excellence Award Nominee (Edinburgh Fringe 2024).   
  • The play has been nominated by the Pleasance for the 2025 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize.
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Fastest selling show:
  • In the Lady Garden was originally performed in The Lab at the Theatre Royal Plymouth in 2022. It sold-out within a couple of weeks of going on sale (and three months before opening night). As a result, an extra performance was added, which sold-out immediately.
  • In 2024, In the Lady Garden returned to Theatre Royal Plymouth for previews ahead of its Edinburgh Fringe debut. This time performing in The Drum (the theatre’s 200 seat venue). It was one of The Drum’s fastest selling shows and the first sold-out show since the pandemic. An extra performance was added to meet the demand.  
  • It went on to play to sell-out audiences at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2024, Norwich Theatre and Mayflower Studios, Southampton, where it sold-out within seven days of going on sale, so an extra matinee performance was added.
Production Photography: © Deborah Edgington
Industry Testimonials
         '​In the Lady Garden is a hilarious and also important piece of work that we are thrilled to support, along with its fantastic company. 

​We rarely see empowering stories from older women on our stages and this feels like the perfect production and company to make this shift.'                                 

​JODIE PAGET - ASSISTANT PRODUCER, THEATRE ROYAL PLYMOUTH
          "Thoroughly enjoyed 'In the Lady Garden'. Julia Faulkner spot on...very funny Alan Bennett's script. Very tourable with wide appeal." 

DONALD HUTERA - THEATRE AND DANCE CRITIC FOR
THE TIMES, FINANCIAL TIMES & THE SUNDAY TIMES
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