A DRAMA which explores the experiences of first generation migrants living in the UK during the Covid-19 pandemic is to be performed for the first time later this month.

Lightstreams, written by Essex University’s Dr Mary Mazzilli, will première at the university’s Lakeside Theatre on Thursday, November 17 at 7pm in what is known as a scratch performance, meaning the material will be tested on a live audience before potentially being revised.

It means the entire performance is free to attend, but tickets will still need to be booked in advance.

Supported by Arts Council England, the production tells the story of two foreign women living in the UK.

One character is a mother who tries to stop her husband ​going back to work as a carer, the other character is an elderly woman who was once an international spy and has been abandoned in a care home for the elderly.

Lightstreams is the culmination of a research project which explores how first generation migrant theatremakers living in the southeast were affected by Britain’s leaving the EU and the Covid-19 pandemic.

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It is another work in Dr Mazzilli’s oeuvre which challenges the negative attitudes directed towards migrants, with one of her previous plays, Priority Seating, set in a train carriage where four migrants discuss who has priority in the one remaining seat on the train.

Discussing the play, Dr Mazzilli said first generation migrants experienced Brexit and the Covid-19 lockdown differently to other communities.

She said: "Seeing news reports about elderly people being abandoned in Spanish care homes, my own experiences as a first generation migrant living in the UK and meeting migrant theatremakers through my most recent project made me want to explore in greater depth how the pandemic and experiences of lockdown were felt by these communities.

"The two central characters, mother and elderly woman, retell their Covid-19 experiences whilst also recalling their pasts which are dominated by other global crises such as the Cold War."

Reservations, which can be made free of charge for the production, are available via bit.ly/3T3EwAG.