ACE-Production in Association With From Start to Finnish Presents ALL THE LIGHTS ARE ON

A heart-wrenching four-hander, young playwright Kaisa Lundán has penned a very personal play about a family afflicted by brain cancer. Emmy hasn't even reached the prime of her life when cancer ensures she never will. Whilst her husband attempts to care for her and her mother holds faith with internet voodoo and blueberry juice, Emmy knows that optimism is a false god. Hope of a future fades and even the memory of her marriage evaporates. In two interlocking timespans, All the Lights Are On sees how illness robs Emmy of her independence and identity whilst her nearest and dearest must comes to terms with the limits of their capacity to help.

Playwright Kaisa Lundán was just thirteen when her father was diagnosed with a fatal illness. Drawing on her personal experiences, she eschews sentimentality for fearless emotional honesty in play about the limits of hope and consolations of certainty. She said: "The play began as an attempt to understand a personal trauma, but led eventually to insights, and a sense of resolution, which I think are more than private and may even be useful to others in need of reconciliation in turbulent times."

The production will be performed by a Scottish cast: Ashley Smith, Ali Watt, Wendy Seager and Mark McDonnell, known for BBC sketch series Velvet Soup and productions with Oran Mor including the title character in A Word With Dr Johnson.

ACE-Production is a performing arts agency that manages and produces plays and musicals internationally. The company was founded in 2008 by Svenska Teatern (the Swedish Theatre) in Helsinki and has extensive experience in licensing and production in Finland, Scandinavia, Europe and Asia. ACE-Production is one of the initiators of the From Start to Finnish project.

From Start to Finnish is an annual showcase presented at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe that represents the best in Finnish performing arts. Now in its eighth year, From Start to Finnish 2018 will also feature Cock, Cock...Who's There? and The Sauna at Summerhall and This is the title at Dance Base. From Start to Finnish productions have received critical acclaim in Edinburgh and gone on to tour China, America and several countries in Europe.

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