I first saw “Cassie and The Lights” when they had their world premiere during the Vault’s Festival four years ago and they’ve since toured in New York, Australia and Edinburgh. They’re now back and performing again at the Southwark Playhouse until the 20th April. The play is based on real-life events and is written and directed by Alex Howarth.
It’s an intimate setting for an extremely tender, engaging and powerful play. All the actors are excellent in their roles and portray an extremely close bond – especially with their comic timing, emotional outbursts and occasional requirements to go off piste with the script.
I loved the sugared almond coloured suitcases adorning the stage created by Ruth Badila and the start is very relaxed as the three main cast members engage with the audience, chat amongst themselves and share biscuits. It’s a clever way to bring us all into the fold before they unleash their story on us.
The play is only an hour long, but extremely powerful. Based on true events, the story follows Cassie (17) and her two young sisters on the painful journey they take after their mother disappears. Cassie takes on the role of “mother” and is a strong and supportive mentor for them, but is it right for her to give up her opportunities for university to look after them?
The play looks agonisingly at whether children can be parents and all the options left open to them as Cassie attempts to legally adopt her sisters instead of leave them with their foster parents, an older, childless couple – Mark and Alice. It highlights a lot of issues with the legal system and questions the rights and wrongs of painful decisions that have to be made. It is dark and heart wrenching but with sparkles of light and humour – at times there wasn’t a dry eye left in the house.
We are invited to consider and examine what ingredients are required to make a family and what ultimately holds it together. It celebrates the power of unity in extreme circumstances and the resilience and tenacity of teenagers, fighting for what they believe in, whilst desperately attempting to keeping the faith and get the homework done.
Cassie is played by Alex Brain, the two younger sisters Tin and Kit played by Helen Chong and Emily McGlynn. The fabulous haunting music is by Imogen Mason.
Ultimately it’s a love story of the highest order and I would urge you to go and see it.
