Forever Alive: Natalia’s story told on London stage
Lilianna performs play in memory of Natalia.
Drama student Lilianna Bulat performed her stage play ‘Forever Alive’ in London last week, in memory of her close friend Natalia, who died from SUDEP.
Lilianna wrote the play and also acted in the production, amongst a cast of seven.
She said: “The performance went very well, and it really did move people. We had an audience of around forty people, and a few of them came up to me afterwards to say they have friends with epilepsy, yet they had never heard of SUDEP before. We gave out SUDEP Action leaflets by placing them on audience chairs, and we also displayed the posters provided for the event. The message seemed to land with people, and there was a strong emotional response in the room.”
Members of the SUDEP Action staff team attended the performance.
Lilianna is a third year student at the University of East London. The play tells the story of her friend Natalia, who grew up in Poland and had her first seizure in 2011, when she was 11. It came out of the blue when she collapsed and lost consciousness in school. She was sat on a bench, laughing and talking with friends, at the time. Medication controlled her seizures effectively and she didn’t have another one in 18 months. When she was 13, she moved with her mother to Germany, where she was put on different medication and her seizures became more frequent and less well controlled.
It was in Germany, where Lilianna met and became friends with Natalia. Lilliana moved to England in 2019 and began studying drama in 2023. She stayed in close touch with her friend – they would speak or text every day, and when Lilliana went back to Germany they would always meet up.
Lilianna was devastated when she received a text message from another friend in May 2025, telling her Natalia had died of SUDEP. “I had never heard of SUDEP, nor had my friends, nor Natalia’s mum. No doctors had mentioned it. When she passed I started reading up about it, wanting to find out more. It hit me hard.”
Lilianna says she wants to continue raising awareness about the risks of SUDEP. She added: “It felt like a really important moment for awareness, and I’m glad we were able to share it with so many people.”
