Bright Places at HOME

Living with multiple sclerosis comes with plenty of uncertainties. As someone living with MS myself, one thing I am fairly certain about is that I don’t want to be called inspirational for simply getting on with my life. It’s a sentiment playwright Rae Mainwaring appears to share. Her award-winning Bright Places arrives at HOME this October, and looks to offer a refreshingly irreverent take on life with MS, complete with 90s pop, dark humour and a generous helping of glitter.

Diagnosed at just 23, Mainwaring found herself navigating a future suddenly thrown into question. Her autobiographical play brings that experience to the stage through three performers – together they tell the story of one woman’s life with MS. Moving between different characters, perspectives and moments in time, they present a story that’s as chaotic, contradictory and unpredictable as the condition itself.

Having received my diagnosis at a different stage of life, I’m particularly intrigued by Mainwaring’s approach. Popular portrayals of the condition tend towards the extremes, often overlooking the invisible symptoms, strange sensations and sheer unpredictability that make MS so difficult to explain. It’s an illness that rarely follows a script, which makes its translation into theatre all the more fascinating.

Mainwaring has spoken about wanting to challenge the tired narratives surrounding chronic illness, particularly the tendency to portray people as either tragic figures or inspirational heroes. Most pleasingly, Bright Places embraces the messy stuff – the frustration, uncertainty, humour and joy.

Even the title is wonderfully layered. On one level, it suggests hope in adversity, those flashes of light when things feel particularly dark. But there’s a clever medical reference too. On MRI scans, the lesions associated with MS can appear as bright white spots in the brain and spinal cord. It’s a striking piece of wordplay, transforming something unsettling into something unexpectedly hopeful.

Presented by Carbon Theatre, the production has received critical acclaim for its playful theatricality and emotional honesty. All performances feature embedded audio description and creative captioning, making accessibility part of the production itself.

I’m curious to see how Bright Places brings the often invisible experience of MS into the spotlight, without losing sight of the person living with it. And if there’s glitter and a good soundtrack along the way, I’m all for it.