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Lightstreams, a new play based on the experiences of migrant care workers, premieres at the Mercury Theatre Studio in Colchester on Thursday 8th October before going out on tour.
Its writer, Mary Mazzilli, moved to Colchester with her husband ten years ago. Mary came to the UK from Italy when she was 18, while her husband is German Irish and originally from London. Together they founded Lumenis Theatre.
A play developed in Colchester
Colchester has since become their home. Mary teaches drama to emerging theatre-makers at the University of Essex and has become involved in the city’s theatre and multicultural communities.
That involvement led to Priority Seating, her first piece of verbatim theatre, which was based on testimonies from local migrants. While developing it, Mary met Maria Wilby and Elizabeth Curry from Refugee, Asylum and Migrant Action and learned more about the experiences of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants living locally.
Lightstreams was also developed in Colchester. Its first staged reading took place at Lakeside Theatre in 2022, with later readings at Omnibus Theatre in London and Shepherd’s Bush Studio.
The play has received support from the University of Essex, Colchester Arts Centre and the Mercury Theatre. The Arts Centre and Mercury are both close to Mary’s home, and she made it clear that the tour should begin in the city where the work developed.
The experiences behind Lightstreams
Lightstreams follows Maurice and Hermia, a migrant couple raising their two-year-old son in the UK.
Maurice is proud of his work in a residential care home. Hermia is struggling with motherhood and isolation but has formed a friendship with Darya, an older migrant woman living at the home.
When the pandemic forces Maurice to live at work to protect the residents, he is separated from his wife and son. Four years later, the couple look back at what happened and the choices they made.
Mary began writing the play in 2021, drawing partly on her own experience as a migrant and what was happening in the care system during and after the pandemic.
The script changed after research with University of Essex academics Dr Phoebe Kisubi Mbasalaki and Dr Matumo Ramafikeng. Funding from the university made it possible to interview migrant nurses, doctors and carers.
Extracts from an early reading were shown during the interviews to start conversations. The accounts that followed revealed a reality Mary found much bleaker than expected.
She decided to focus more closely on migrant care workers, including what happens in their homes as well as at work. Their accounts included family separation, pressure within the care system and microaggressions from colleagues and some of the people they cared for.
Maurice barely spoke in the first version of the play. After the interviews, his character and experiences became as important to the story as Hermia’s.
“These are invisible people. Only visible when it comes to pointing out to them that they do not belong here,” Mary said.
Working with Richard Bland
The production is directed by Richard Bland, whose work in Colchester includes Our Country’s Good and Dirty at the Mercury Theatre, along with The Clacton Three at the 2025 Colchester Fringe Festival.
Mary was introduced to Richard by the play’s dramaturg, playwright Kenny Emson. She was impressed by his empathy for the script and the questions he asked about its characters.
Their discussions have also helped her reconsider parts of her own work. During rehearsals, Richard has focused on the characters and their relationships, bringing greater emotional weight to the story.
What audiences can expect
Lightstreams is not a naturalistic play. Mary has used a more stylised approach because she does not want the subject reduced to a conventional story that is easily consumed and quickly forgotten.
It is a play about migration, racism, care and representation, but it is also about the marriage between Maurice and Hermia and the friendship between Hermia and Darya. Mary does not want to tell audiences how to respond. She hopes they feel something and make their own connection with the people on stage.
She was also determined that the migrant characters should be played by migrant actors, at a time when she believes British theatre still has considerable work to do on representation.
An optional discussion will follow the performance. Failing at Diversity and Why Is ‘Immigration’ Such a Foe? will consider migration, social care and representation in theatre and the arts.
Hosted by Jo Coldwell of Red Lion Books, the panel will include playwright Roy Williams, journalist and author Daniel Trilling, Colchester Arts Centre Associate Director Vijay Patel, RAMA Operational Lead Maria Wilby and Castle ward councillor Kemal Çufoğlu.
Lightstreams is at the Mercury Theatre Studio, Colchester, on Thursday 8th October at 7pm. The production lasts approximately 90 minutes and is recommended for ages 14 and over. Tickets cost £16.50, including the ticket levy.
Find out more and book tickets through the Mercury Theatre website.
