BOOKING NOW: MUST SEE EVENT

The Light House

Stephen Joseph Theatre, 7.45pm, February 29. Tickets are available from the box office on 01723 370541 and online at www.sjt.uk.com

Love is a complicated business – and so is bringing a debut play to the stage. But writer and performer Alys Williams has successfully navigated both with her new show, The Light House, which brings love, light and hope to Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph Theatre.

This autobiographical story of falling in love and staying in love when your favourite person doesn’t want to be alive any more is heading out on a national tour after a run at Leeds Playhouse. The theatre has developed a special relationship with Alys and the show over the last two years. The Leeds-based artist first shared her story idea with the theatre’s artistic development team in 2021 and performed a work-inprogress version at its Furnace Festival – an annual week-long celebration of emerging artists and new work – in 2022.

“It has been a privilege to bring this show to life with such an extraordinary creative team and I’m so grateful for all the support we’ve had,” says Williams. “We’re particularly grateful to Leeds Playhouse, Red Ladder Theatre

Company and Arts Council England for their ongoing partnership and belief in the project.”

The Light House is a genuine passion project for Williams – a real-life love story based on her own experiences of falling in love with an old friend and journeying with him through a mental health crisis. “As a writer, you can’t write everybody’s story but I know our experience wasn’t unusual and I hope it will connect with a lot of people,” she says. “I’ve had some amazing conversations with carers while developing the show and it’s extraordinary how much the frustrations, anxieties and little wins resonate. I’d like to think that we are honouring that experience. In the end though, The Light House isn’t about mental health. It’s about love, and hope, and the way human beings hold on to each other when things get tough.”

The play, which includes some gentle audience participation, is a warm, witty and thought-provoking theatrical journey in which audiences join Alys as she tries to turn the lights back on after an emotional blackout.

The Light House can be seen at the SJT at 7.45pm on February 29. Tickets are available from the box office on 01723 370541 and online at www.sjt. uk.com