Lightstreams: A New Play About Migrant Carers
Midlands Arts CentreCannon Hill Park, Birmingham
Fri 9 Oct · 19:30
About this event
When a global crisis forces Maurice, a young migrant care worker, to choose between his family and living full-time in the care home where he works, he struggles to keep his marriage and relationship with his two-year-old son afloat. Lightstreams amplifies the lived experience of migrant social care workers, dramatising racism, workplace stress, isolation and family separation with both heart and humanity. Maurice is torn between caring for vulnerable residents - including Darya, who reminds him of his own grandmother - and being there for his wife Hermia as she battles depression whilst caring for their young son alone. It is an intimate, moving story that asks: when society demands sacrifice from those who care for us, who cares for the carers? Why this work matters now: First-generation migrants Hermia and Maurice have made a Suffolk coastal town their home - but when Maurice returns from the care home needing support himself, society has moved on and forgotten the sacrifice he made. Only his son still hails him as a hero. Developed through interviews with migrant health and social care workers from London and the South East, the script has been Arts Council funded and longlisted for the Theatre 503 International Playwriting Award 2024/25. Previous staged readings took place at Lakeside Theatre Colchester, Omnibus Theatre London and Shepherd Bush Studio. Reasons to book Lightstreams: · Deep community engagement potential: Pre-show listening sessions with local migrant care workers, post-show panels bringing together care managers, workers and local representatives · Education programme: KS3-6 teacher packs addressing migration, care ethics, mental health with flexible classroom lessons and student matinees · Workforce partnerships: Skills for Care EDI briefings and CPD sessions for local care settings · Inclusive programming: Multilingual marketing where appropriate, accessible pricing for care-sector staff, trauma-informed delivery · Policy impact: Creates safe spaces for testimony and practical outcomes - local action notes, workforce briefings and lasting change · Arts Council England supported: Comprehensive audience development planning Who needs to see this: Frontline migrant social care workers and their families, care-sector staff and students, community advocates, diverse communities who recognise themselves in Maurice and Hermia's story, and anyone who benefited from care work during the pandemic and wants to understand the human cost. Writer Mary Mazzilli moved to the UK from Italy at eighteen and is a graduate of the Royal Court Young Writers Group (led by Simon Stephens) and Soho Theatre Writers attachment programme. She is a Senior Lecturer in Drama and Literature at the University of Essex where she teaches playwriting.
