They left everything behind to be told they don’t belong
LIGHTSTREAMS
by Mary Mazzilli
A passionate play about a family, and their choices during a global crisis inspired by real life testimonies voices the human stories behind migration when the world is against them.
Maurice and Hermia a migrant married couple make their home in the UK. Maurice is very proud of working as a care worker in an elderly care-home. Hermia, instead, struggles with motherhood and caring for their two-year-old alone but has found a friend in Darya, a woman in her late 70s, a resident of the care home also a migrant. When during a period of global crisis Maurice is forced to choose between his family and having to live in the care home where he works, he tries to keep his marriage and the relationship with his two-year old son afloat. Four years later, with further restrictions looming for migrant care workers, Maurice and Hermia take stock of their life choices.
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.