By: Rosie Sharman-Ward, TRP Reviewer
Alex Howarth’s powerful, beautifully crafted play bathes the audience in pretty, childlike pastels then ruthlessly breaks the hearts of all those watching. A play about love, responsibility and caring. It asks many questions about the nature of a family and who should make those decisions.
Before the show begins Kit, aged six, and sister Tin, aged 10, come out to play with the audience. They make “friends”, ask about families and pets with delightful interactions until we are all involved. Eldest sister, 16-year-old Cassie rounds them up to begin the show.
We are then entertained by Tin’s TED talk, or “Tin talk”, on the nature of three stars as they follow their orbit, two together and one a bit further away. During this allegory of their relationship, we learn that Tin is passionate about science, Kit loves dinosaurs and her frog eyed head band and big sister Cassie is mature beyond her years. We also learn that, not for the first time, their Mum is missing.
Alex Brain as Cassie is exceptional. They carry the audience with them through tumultuous emotions without missing a beat. You can hear a pin drop in the pauses between speech and many, including myself, are moved to tears as Cassie, who is fiercely protective, does her best to shield her younger siblings from further pain. Cassie seems oblivious to her own agony, revealed in the brave letters she writes to her absent mother – the one whose place she fights desperately to take.
Meanwhile Kit (Martha Walker) and Tin (Helen Chong) are bittersweet in their trust in their mum. Demonstrating a child’s natural optimism, their happy chatter is laced with sucker punches as they attempt to comprehend what is happening: “I feel Mum not being here in my tummy”. Despite this being the uncomfortable scenario of adults playing young children, we soon forget about it as they charm us and make us laugh. Despite the heartrending story there is much laughter in this show, it is by no means gloomy. The resilience of children is brilliantly portrayed by the cast. Imogen and Ellie Mason’s music cleverly weaves together their happiness and the damage caused by their lives.
Ruth Badila’s set is ingenious. An array of coloured suitcases, suggesting the unstable nature of the girls’ lives, that morph into chairs, toyboxes and even a bowling alley to tell the children’s story. The line of washing dangling overhead become screens for photos of the girls whilst voiceovers deliver devastating soundbites from the adults involved in their case. This combined with lighting and video designed by Rachel Sampley moves us from games to grief and back as the children try to negotiate the rapid changes in their circumstances.
Based on true stories and interviews with children in care, Cassie and the Lights is so much more than just a play, it is a cri de coeur on behalf of all children taken into “the system”. Distressed, traumatised, baffled by language used by professionals. They are shunted from their norm to the unfamiliar, with sketchy explanations, too hurt to know why or understand adults are trying to help. It is as light hearted and direct as a child and challenges us to think about the realities of these and many other children. Who should parent them? Who decides? Do not miss this show, I am so glad I saw it. I highly recommend seeing it for yourselves – I also recommend you bring a tissue.
Live music: Charlotte Schnurr
Voiceover artists: Jasmine – Bethany Antonia, Alice – Louisa Harland, Mark – Oil Higginson, Mrs Thompson – Wendi Peters, Dan – John Thompson
Trigger warnings:
Flashing lights, haze, strong language, loud music and noise. Contains scenes some people might find upsetting.