Review: Cassie and the Lights at Southwark Playhouse Borough

Following successful runs at Edinburgh Fringe and 59E59 as part of the Brits Off Broadway Season, Alex Howarth’s Cassie and the Lights comes to London for a limited engagement at Southwark Playhouse Borough.

This one act play follows the eponymous Cassie, and her siblings Tin and Kit. Their mum went to buy slushies and hasn’t been seen since. But this isn’t the first time it’s happened, and the trio fall in to their well-worn routine that sees Cassie as the leading star guiding the younger children’s trajectory.

Astronomy buff Tin has an optimistic view of how this disappearance will turn out, but the children can’t keep their secret for long, and are soon fostered by Mark and Alice. While certainly well intentioned, caring and able to provide for the girls, Cassie believes that caring for the family is her responsibility and begins exploring the idea of becoming their legal guardian.

Using a twist on the play within a play construct, Cassie and the Lights gives us parts of the story from Mr Potato Head, a sock puppet and an elephant. But that’s just one method, from a loop pedal to gameplay, it reflects childlike storytelling because, despite being adult actors, the cast are portraying vulnerable children. Indeed, any adult characters that do feature are in voice over format, because it’s the voice of the child that needs to be heard here.

Howarth’s engaging script is informed by interviews with real life care-experienced individuals so it feels authentic. So much so that it leaves the audience torn, we know the foster parents can give the girls a better life, but we’re also seeing with our own eyes just how much Cassie loves them.

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It’s a tight knit cast, who succeed in creating this magical like world where children’s innocence is pitted against real world bureaucracy and the harsh realities of life. Helen Chong as Tin and Emily McGlynn as Kit are particularly effective at playing the younger characters, mixing with the audience pre-show and asking us what we want to be when we grow up. McGlynn and Chong also succeed in giving each of the girls distinct personalities which are utterly charming.

Alex Brain wonderfully captures the adolescent Cassie, carefully balancing the weight of responsibility with the desire to live a more conventional life. In the scenes where Cassie writes to her mother, Brain makes the room crackle with emotion.

The cast are accompanied by a rotating trio of onstage musicians, which includes the co-composers. Occasionally delivering the odd line of dialogue, the musician of the night provides a varied score from Imogen Mason and Ellie Mason, which is both hopeful and frenetic, reflecting the emotional arcs of the characters.

Cassie and the Lights, which is also directed by Alex Howarth is beautiful in its simplicity, but underneath the childlike facade is a complex and heart-breaking story, guaranteed to bowl you over.

Cassie and the Lights is at Southwark Playhouse Borough until 20th April.