Muggers left me for dead but now I'm producing my first play

Jane Gauntlett, 26, from Camden, was in a coma for a fortnight after being attacked while riding her bike in Paddington Green. Her family feared she would be left brain damaged if she survived.

But although she will have to cope with permanent health problems, including epilepsy, she has been determined to persevere with a career in the theatre and has produced her first play at an established venue.

The Dybbuk is being staged at the King's Head in Islington. Ms Gauntlett, who was studying for her second degree at the University of the Arts, had just been asked to help put on the play when she was attacked by three teenagers last February.

She said: "I was in a coma for two weeks, then I was paralysed. I don't remember it all. I don't remember February and I don't remember the operation I had. I didn't recognise my mum or my boyfriend. I thought I lived in Norwich, which was where I went to university the first time."

Looking to the future, she said: "Things aren't going to be how they used to be. It's very difficult for me to work full-time. My energy is nowhere near as high as it used to be with all the pain and illness. Sometimes I just have to stay in bed.

"I have to brace myself for what the effects will be. I'm very nervous because my concentration is very bad. I quite often have days of ill health. I'm not very confident that what goes on inside my head comes out of my mouth. I'm nowhere near as eloquent as I would like to be."

The three attackers were on two scooters when they rode up to Ms Gauntlett in Harrow Road on 3 February. They ripped the lock and basket off her bike, and threw her to the ground. They stole her handbag and left her unconscious and bleeding in the road.

Alexander Sztorc, 17, from Maida Vale, was convicted of the mugging and was jailed for four years in October. He had refused to name his accomplices to police but disclosed two names in court, although police said last night that neither is being investigated. Ms Gauntlett was determined to carry on with the play after her attack. She said: "It was probably my way of dealing with it. I wanted to do something that I felt passionate about.

"The court case was a really difficult period. It made me realise just how the accident had affected the people around me. I wasn't there when they were wondering whether I would live or not, whether I would be a vegetable or not, and it was really difficult seeing my family reliving it.

"I was very glad when it was all over. I was very touched by the amount of support that the whole thing had. The police went out of their way and the boys probably wouldn't have been caught without the Evening Standard and all the publicity on Crimewatch."

The Dybbuk, by Yiddish dramatist S Ansky, is about a woman possessed by the spirit of her dead lover the day before she is to have an arranged marriage. It opened at the King's Head last Friday and runs until 24 February.

Ms Gauntlett said: "It got a very positive response. I feel very proud and quite motherly really. Everybody has been putting in so much commitment and hard work and been very supportive. Doing this has really helped me to get through a year which I thought was going to be really difficult. Just the excitement and determination of the whole project has helped me get through."