Cassie and the Lights is an award-winning play with live music, based on a true story and interviews with children in the care system. It will run at Big Belly, Underbelly at the Edinburgh Fringe 2022.

Can kids be parents? When Cassie’s mother disappears, the teen wants to care for her younger sisters on her own. But is Cassie the right person to be a parent now, or should she let her foster parents adopt her sisters and create a new family? Based on real life events and interviews with children in care, Cassie and the Lights examines our ideas of what makes a family, and celebrates the incredible determination and resilience of teenagers.

Alex Howarth wrote the play after conducting interviews with children and young people in the care system in the Woolwich area, supported by the charity Participation People. These interviews and a true story have shaped the play, which examines the rapidly increasing issue of teenagers being denied custody of their younger siblings in court and separated from the siblings once they’re adopted.

“‘Cassie and the Lights’ educates, inspires, and gives a raw, beautiful, authentic performance on what it’s really like”- Brooke Oliver- sibling of children in care

After previewing at the Central Academy Awards in China where it won the Excellent Play Award, it had two hugely successful runs in 2020, firstly at Vault Festival London, playing to sold out audiences and receiving a 5-star review from Creative Reviews UK, before transferring to Adelaide Fringe Australia, where it received critical acclaim, and the Best Theatre award. We are honoured to be bringing it to Big Belly, Underbelly Cowgate, which was the original home of Phoebe Waller Bridge’s ‘Fleabag’.

Taking a show to the Edinburgh Fringe is increasingly difficult; with the prices of accommodation and travel skyrocketing after the pandemic, whilst already being incredibly high. In order to pay our actors and musicians fairly, as well as cover unavoidable costs such as accommodation, travel, venue hire and marketing, we need to raise almost £10,000. The pandemic has been incredibly challenging for small companies such as us who have been unable to make work for over two years- despite this we are committed to paying our performers and creatives a fair wage, and we want to be able to guarantee we are able to do this not only for this project, but for the play’s future life, and the work we have in development. As the run is taking place in Scotland we are unable to apply for Arts Council funding, but are currently exploring other avenues of fundraising, and applying for a grant from HelpMusicians. Your donation will help us pay for

– Our cast’s wages

– Accommodation in Edinburgh

– Marketing the show to ensure we reach a wide audience

– Return travel to Edinburgh

– Set transportation

IMPACT
Taking the show to Edinburgh will allow us not only to share the show with the Edinburgh Fringe’s audiences and tell what we believe is a very important story, but also to invite industry professionals, venue programmers and more, to build a future for the show, which we hope to include a month’s London run and a National tour. Performing at Edinburgh with previous shows has led directly to us being programmed around the world in New York, Australia and China, as well as across the UK, receiving Critic’s Pick in the New York Times, and winning the prestigious Grahame F Smith Peace Foundation Award for promoting human rights through theatre. We passionately believe in this play and our ability to give a voice to care-experienced young people- but we need your help.

For ‘Cassie and the Lights’
WINNER- Best Theatre Week 2, Adelaide Fringe

WINNER- Excellent Play Award, Central Academy Awards, China

★★★★★ – ”something quite extraordinary’ – Creative Reviews UK

★★★★★ – ‘subtly captures the injustice… you may need tissues’ – The Adelaide Advertiser

★★★★★ – ‘delicately simple and wrenchingly complex…it is unmissable’ – Adelaide Theatre Guide

★★★★★ – ‘offers flashes of light which demonstrate the resilience of the human spirit’ – Glam Adelaide

★★★★★ – ‘flawless…unlike anything you’ve ever seen’ – Radelaide

★★★★★ – ‘phenomenal, outstanding theatre… landing every wrenching blow, then picking us up with each wonderful moment’ – Stage Whispers

★★★★ – ThreeDRadio

★★★★ – ‘hilariously convincing portrayals’ – InDaily

Risks and challenges
With the Edinburgh Fringe set to be bigger than ever this year, our show being in a prime venue and time slot, and armed with the overwhelmingly positive reviews from previous runs, we are confident of strong ticket sales. We have already begun our online social media marketing campaign, and closer to the run will be paying for targeted posts on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok to ensure we are reaching our target audience. However, to guarantee we are able to break even on the project and so ensure a future life for both this play and our future work, we are exploring other avenues of funding, including this Kickstarter project.