Cassie and the Lights
- Full Length Play, Drama, Comedy, Contemporary
- 3F, 1M or F
- ISBN: 9781839043338
"I needed to be better... and summat needed to change – to keep them safe. To fix my family."
Description
- Full Length Play
- Drama, Comedy
- Time Period: Contemporary
- Target Audience: Teen (Age 14 - 18), Adult
- Set Requirements: Bare Stage/Simple Set
- Performance Group:
- College Theatre / Student, Community Theatre, Blackbox / Second Stage /Fringe Groups, Professional Theatre
Alex Howarth's play Cassie and the Lights is a tender and playful examination of what makes a family and what holds it together. Based on real-life events and interviews with children in care, it celebrates the resilience of young people and the power of sisterhood.
The play has been performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, VAULT Festival in London, 59E59 in New York City and Adelaide Fringe Festival in Australia. It toured the UK in 2024, produced by Patch of Blue and 3 hearts canvas, in association with Southwark Playhouse and Verse Unbound.
REVIEWS:
"Glows in the darkness… a thoughtful, warm, moving hour that will leave you wanting to call whoever you think of as family."
The Guardian
"Bursts with life and quirkily observed truths."
The Stage (2022)
"Unmissable... deals with trauma and heartbreak with humour and empathy... it may only be 70 minutes long, but it remains in your heart for far longer."
Reviews Hub
"Gut-wrenching... vivid... powerfully moving... moments of sparky Alan Bennett-esque humour."
The Stage (2024)
"Tender and heartwrenching... Profoundly moving in its bittersweet playfulness and candid approach to the subject... scrupulously crafted... sneakily devastating under a coat of perfectly calibrated humour."
Broadway World
"A complex and heartbreaking story, guaranteed to bowl you over."
Theatre Weekly
"Unique and distinctive... refreshingly accessible... Howarth's writing astounds at every opportunity... incredibly impressive... a vital piece of theatre which has an unrivaled ability to make you feel and your heart hurt."
All That Dazzles
"Enchanting and wonderful... Cassie and the Lights is, to put it simply, perfect theatre."
Theatre & Tonic
"A most unusual yet effective piece of theatre... needs to be seen... strongly recommended."
LondonTheatre1
"Heartbreaking... both moving and believable... a tender, short play that explores a huge and super-sensitive subject in just over an hour with understanding and respect."
British Theatre Guide
"The perfect balance of comedic and moving content with the dialogue and plot giving light and shade to an important and underrepresented topic... an impressively accessible playtext for the big topic it tackles, with gentle humour and touching sibling solidarity."
Drama & Theatre Magazine
Characters
- Casting: 3F, 1M or F
- Casting Attributes: All Female
- Casting Notes: the play is written to be performed by three actors playing characters aged 17, 10 and 7. In the original production, there was also an onstage musician who has a few lines. Other characters were pre-recorded voices.
Available Material
| Name | Price |
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Cassie and the Lights Script
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When her mother disappears, teenager Cassie wants to care for her sisters on her own. But can kids be parents? Or should Cassie let foster parents adopt her sisters and create a new family? |
$24.95 |
