Lasagna, a new play by Open Clasp. Opens at Live Theatre, Newcastle on International Women’s Day, and will then tour throughout March. Lasagna is based on true life experiences of women who have lost multiple children to the care system.
From the multi-award winning company behind New York Times Critics’ Pick Key Change and Sugar on BBC iPlayer, Lasagna was co-created with women from Pause, North East – a national charity that works with women who have had multiple children taken into care, delivered by Barnado’s in the North East of England.
Originally launched online in 2022 to coincide with the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care final report, Lasagna resonated with audiences so Open Clasp will now tour the production to venues across England including community settings and prisons as well as traditional theatre spaces.
Theatre can bring about social change
Driven by a passionate belief that theatre can bring about social change, Catrina McHugh co-founded Open Clasp in 1998. The company places theatre at the heart of transforming the lives of women and girls, collaborating with women and young women excluded by theatre and society to create bold and urgent theatre for personal, social, and political change. In 2017, Catrina was awarded an MBE for outstanding services to disadvantaged women through theatre. Pause commissioned Open Clasp to work with women in their North East group. Catrina explains:
“This commission was to highlight the gap in support for women when their children are removed into the care system, when they are at their most vulnerable. The initial workshops were face to face, then via Zoom when the pandemic hit. The process was intimate – creating writing and hearing voices that uncover a truth that is both painful and beautiful. There was such honesty and courage shown, the women knew they couldn’t change the outcome for themselves and their own children, but they wanted to help others who find themselves in their shoes. But it became clear to me that there was a bigger story to tell, of a system that is broken, and a need for real systematic change. Lasagna is about community and what is needed in order to not only survive but to thrive and grow. To reimagine and invest in a society that supports all of us to live the best lives we can.”
Since 2013, Pause Practices have reached nearly 4,000 women. Vanessa is a graduate of the Pause North East programme and was one of the women who helped to co-create the play. She says:
“I’m so proud to have been given the opportunity to be part of this production. The fact I was listened to when I said it would be better live than the recording as I watched the dress rehearsal and it really hit home. Now it’s touring, I can’t contain my excitement – I hope people enjoy the show and it resonates with audiences.”
Cast and creative team
The cast includes Beth Crame who recently played the lead role in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice at Northern Stage and was a finalist in the 2022 North East Culture Awards for her professional debut in the online version of Lasagna, and Zoe Lambert whose recent credits include The Winter’s Tale and The Comedy of Errors with the Royal Shakespeare Company.
The creative team includes Writer Catrina McHugh whose writing credits for Open Clasp include Key Change and Sugar, Director Laura Lindow (Key Change/Open Clasp), Set and Costume Designer Verity Quinn (Sugar/Open Clasp), Lighting Designer Sherry Coenen (Operation Mincemeat/Riverside Studios), and Composer and Sound Designer Roma Yagnik (The Mare of Easttown/HBO).
You can find more information here.
