KAILEY
Who cares for you when your parent is in prison?
Set in Bradford, KAILEY is a comedy-drama that follows 18 year old Kailey Spence as she navigates life alone whilst her mum, Shaz is caught in the prison system. Inspired by real life events, this comical and honest piece of new writing poignantly highlights the reality of society’s forgotten young people
KAILEY is based on my own teenage experiences of having parents in prison. I began developing the script in Spring 2020 and carried out a 14 month research period which included interviews with people with lived experiences of family members in prison. All participants spoke about the lack of support and described feelings of shame and guilt.
I was awarded a Bradford Producing Hub ‘Make Work’ grant to fund a full R&D, This led to an Arts Council England and Live Theatre funded advanced R&D with director Tess Seddon at Leeds Playhouse. The R&Ds culminated into a rehearsed reading of KAILEY at Live Theatre’s Elevator Festival 2022.
KAILEY was awarded ACE funding for a 5 night run at Keighley Creative, in partnership with Kala Sangam, supported by Children Heard & Seen.
CAST
Kailey - Hannah Mullen
Shaz - Jeanette Percival
Beth / Jo - Faye Weerasinghe
CREATIVE TEAM
Written and Produced by: Kerry Wright
Director & Dramaturg: Tess Seddon
Designer: Lu Herbert
Lighting Designer: Jessie Addinall
Sound Designer: NikNak
Movement Director: Bakani Pickup
Stage Manager: Leila Stephenson
Marketing & Audience Development: Rob Abbey
Assistant Producer: Mitchell Vernals
Production shots credit: Ant Robling
Poster image credit; Will Summers
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