Bright Places - a play about MS
Rae Mainwaring is a writer and theatre maker from Birmingham. She was diagnosed with relapsing MS in 2004. This autumn Rae’s autobiographical play Bright Places is touring England. We caught up with Rae during rehearsals to find out more about the show.
Can you tell us a bit about your MS journey and what led you to becoming a playwright?
I was diagnosed 20 years ago, just out of university and about to go travelling. The diagnosis was a big shock, I didn’t know anything about MS. I was working as a dresser in a theatre, and had hopes of starting a theatre company but my MS was very active for the first 8 or 9 years. I tried several different career paths outside of theatre in an attempt to find something that was flexible enough to work around my unpredictable health. Nothing ever felt right.
After my children had started school, I decided to have one last stab at the arts. The landscape had changed and needing reasonable adjustments was starting to become accepted. I did some volunteering with a local theatre company and joined a writing course. I’ve not looked back since!
What inspired you to write Bright Places?
I was always frustrated by the lack of realistic representation on screen and stage. It felt like any story that involved MS was a depressing tragedy, that often resulted in death. I felt it was a story that hadn’t yet been explored on stage. And not in the way I wanted to do it.
What was your writing process like for the play? Did you find it hard to go back over elements of your life?
I started developing the play in 2019 and we were meant to tour it in 2020. The pandemic and arts cuts have meant I’ve actually been redrafting on and off over five years. Within that time, my own experiences have changed and that's further influenced the script.
I naively thought I wouldn’t find it emotionally difficult to write the play, but I found that it brought up some challenging emotions.
I worked with well-being practitioner Lou Platt who helped me to explore those feelings and discover a way to work with vulnerable material but not risking my own mental health.
The play is directed by Tessa Walker. How involved have you been in the production of the play?
Tessa Walker is the most amazing director and dramaturg. We've been developing this show for 5 years. It’s been wonderful to work with her. I’m very involved in most aspects of the play. We have a brilliant producer and the most talented creative team. Because the play is based on my experiences, it’s been more of a theatre maker role than is usual for me.
One of the most exciting parts of making theatre is the collaboration. I've mostly sat alone with the words and suddenly all these brilliant people are bringing their skills. It grows into something else and I love that process.
It wouldn’t be the play it is without Tessa and her brilliant eye for excellent staging. Plus, you’ll never laugh as much as we have rehearsing Bright Places.
Who do the three characters in the play represent?
The three characters are all different versions of the same character Lou, who's based on me. It started as a way for me to put some distance between me and the material. But it became a device that really worked to explore the versions of ourselves - the one we project to the world and the inner feelings we try to hide.
In what ways does the play address the physical, emotional, and social impacts of living with MS?
This was one of the interesting challenges. How do you tell a story about invisible illness, and societal challenges, whilst still making it entertaining? I didn’t want to it to feel like a lecture. I always lean towards comedy and the surreal.
The play holds the seriousness of the subject matter within a world of comedic fantasy. Lou copes with her diagnosis by retelling through her unique lens.
What was the biggest challenge you faced in writing this play?
To not shy away from difficult themes, I originally tried to represent as many different experiences as possible, but it wasn’t working.
I realised that I can only really tell my story, and I hope people find common threads within that. MS is so different for each individual person - I couldn’t possibly cover every experience.
I feel a responsibility to the MS community, that can be a challenging place to write from. Not wanting to let anyone down. I hope I’ve done us all proud. Our associate director and understudy Natalia and cast member Bex also live with MS. We have a good proportion of our team for whom chronic illness is their lived experience too.
What do you hope audiences will take away from the play?
Bright Places is as much a ‘coming of age’ story as it is a story about illness. I hope audiences will leave feeling hopeful and informed. And that it might prompt conversations around illness. I’m sure they'll be humming along to the 90’s pop music. Diagnosis isn’t a full stop.
How does it feel to be taking Bright Places on tour?
Beyond excited, it’s been such a long road to get here, and it's felt like I’ve been holding my breath for the longest time. I think when we go to our first venue it will feel real. I’m so proud to be taking a play about MS around the country and I really can’t wait for people to come and join us.
We're also running a sister project called My Bright Places, which is our creative engagement program. We are running in person and online workshops for anyone affected by chronic illness. The project is run by a wonderful director facilitator Jo Gleave alongside playwright Tom Wells and me. Tom also lives with MS. We’d love to meet other MSers interested in creative writing - no previous writing experience needed.
Learn more about My Bright Places on Carbon Theatre's website
How would you describe the play in 3 words?
Honest, funny and unexpected!
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