The Last Time I Saw Caileigh – Old Joint Stock, Birmingham

Writers: Victoria Sasso and Harun Ćehović

Co-Creators: Helen Percival and Matthias Moret

Director: Lesley Ewen

The Last Time I Saw Caileigh is a one-act, devised piece performed by four actors. With understated staging and a simple, light-touch design, it’s a fringe show with great intentions. The show examines themes of identity, acceptance, love, and gender expression in a familiar yet dramatic fashion. Theatre that explores gender identity and transphobia can be tricky, but this production manages to create drama without digging too deep into well-travelled wounds.

When we first meet Caileigh, they are sitting with their boyfriend Faruk sharing an article about scientific study of gender in animals that fall outside the binary of male and female. The pair play at being in love, but he is not ready to listen to the subtext of Caileigh’s fascination with the article. Caileigh spent the first part of their life expressing and being identified as a woman, using she/her pronouns. After some soul-searching, Caileigh has realised they are non-binary (not identifying with either identity of being female or male) and wants to use they/them pronouns. This scene ends, and it is revealed that Caileigh is missing, so their friends and family have come together to try to figure out why they went missing.

In addition to Faruk (Filip Mayer), Caileigh’s friend Maxime (Matthias Moret) and their guardian Maureen (Helen Percival) have gathered to solve the mystery. Through a series of flashback scenes, it becomes clear that each of these characters has tried to support Caileigh in their own way but has also committed their fair share of gender-affirming blunders. Although Caileigh is never ‘found’ by the other characters in the play, it becomes clear that Caileigh is only missing in that their identity is not being seen, so therefore Caileigh is not being seen. If there was a call to action at the end of this play, it would be to honour and acknowledge people’s identity expression, even if you may not understand it.

Devised theatre can be powerful. Difficult subjects, when performed by people with personal experience of them, can have great impact. The company clearly wants this play to be hard-hitting and dramatic, so they’ve heightened some moments at the expense of truthful storytelling and character expression. The most lasting aspect of this show is the message, and the characters are a vehicle to express that message rather than truthful characters experiencing the events of the play.

Maureen is a stereotyped older woman who only wears heels and stays in her unfulfilling marriage because it’s what women do. Maxime turns from a supportive friend into a tired ally, who is exhausted with fighting for everyone’s acceptance, including his own. Faruk is trying his hardest to be supportive despite an unsympathetic mother. Each of these characters tries to be supportive but eventually asks Caileigh to hide their true self.

Caileigh (Victoria Sasso) should be the character for whom the audience cares the most, but their behaviour does not acknowledge the good things their friends and family do and only focuses on the mistakes they make. The process of examining and expressing one’s identity truthfully is sensitive, and this play makes it clear what the biggest mistakes are that one could make while supporting a friend or family member through that process.

This play is great for someone starting out on a journey of understanding gender expression outside of the binary system. The storytelling is clear, the message even clearer. It may even give someone the confidence to explore their own gender identity anew. Even with its flaws and difficult subjects, it is a safe choice for a night at the theatre.

Runs until 6 September 2024