BUTTERCUP Premieres On BBC4 Tonight as Part of Lights Up

Premiering on Wednesday 14 April, Buttercup is the debut play written and performed by Liverpool-based Congolese singer, songwriter, and actor Dorcas Sebuyange, based on an original idea by Associate Producer Odile Mukete.

It is presented as part of BBC Lights Up; a major festival of UK theatre adapted for TV and radio at a time when theatres throughout the UK are closed. Continuing its Culture in Quarantine initiative - bringing arts and culture into the nation's homes - BBC Arts has partnered with theatres across the country to produce this unprecedented season of 18 plays for audiences at home. It is 20 Stories High's second BBC commission following Performance Live title I Told My Mum I Was Going on an R.E. Trip.

Buttercup is the story of a young woman strong enough to finally make herself heard. She is livestreaming an informal spoken word gig to her online followers. As she takes the mic, she desperately hopes that her audience will include the one person who needs to hear her truth: her mother.

Weaving words, poems, and memories, she shares her story. From a vulnerable little girl in a bedroom in Kinshasa to a bold young woman partying and performing in Liverpool. Only now is she ready to revisit a past that she has locked away, to recognise the power behind her mother's warnings, and to accept the truth that she was never to blame for what happened to her.

Jonty Claypole, Director of Arts, BBC: "BBC Lights Up is a major broadcast season celebrating the creativity and resilience of UK theatre in its darkest hour. It's that seemingly impossible thing: a theatre festival in the midst of a pandemic, consisting of eighteen original productions from theatres and producers right across the UK. Buttercup is a powerful one-woman show from a superb writer and performer based in Liverpool and telling stories that speak to the world. It's about growing up and trying to let go of the past when your past won't let go of you. I am delighted it is joining BBC Lights Up, and that BBC audiences around the country will have access to this exceptional production."

Odile Mukete, Buttercup Associate Producer: "I identified that there was an issue within my community that isn't usually talked about and I wanted to create a piece to help start that conversation. Which is why I approached 20 Stories High with the original idea for Buttercup. This has been a healing process and a way to help others to be bold and stand in their truth and to tell their story. Seeing it all coming together and getting the feedback back on how much it has helped people, words can't explain what that means, I'm grateful to God! This has been my first experience as an Associate Producer and I would love to work on other projects related to this topic in the future."

During the Covid-19 pandemic, 20 Stories High has focused on remaining creative whilst making space for wellbeing, reflection and activism. Two days after restrictions were lifted on outdoor theatre performances in July, it premiered Knocking On, a piece of doorstep theatre performed for households in Toxteth and Liverpool 8, for which it was was recognised by The Achates Philanthropy Prize and The Stage 100.

Further lockdown work has included Chokka, an audio-play in 4 parts written by Luke Barnes with 20 Stories High Youth Theatre and Black with a Capital B, a series of 7 exclusive commissions by Black Liverpool artists.

In May, the company premieres Touchy, a new series of work commissioned by Wellcome Commission, in partnership with Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

During this period, Tigerlily Productions has produced Natasha Marshall's Half Breed with Soho Theatre for the BBC Lights Up (as well as Buttercup), and executive produced feature documentary Poly Styrene I Am A Cliché, which premieres at SXSW and on Sky Arts in March 2021. It is currently in production on two feature documentaries, We All Wear Masks about the current artists protests in Hong Kong, and Haiti Carnival Of The Ancestors telling the history of Haiti through the characters at an annual carnival, which is being shot by Shabier Kirchner (Small Axe).