Two performers in a physically expressive moment from The Morality of Mrs Dulska

Independent public theatre

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With thanks

We acknowledge the support of the Polish Cultural Institute and Stratford Town Trust.

01Independent public theatre

We beginA performer reaching upwardsbeforewords.

Stories live in the weight of a hand, the distance between two bodies, the breath before a choice. Made with people, for people.

Stratford-upon-Avon Herald · The Morality of Mrs Dulska · 2026
“Succinct, splendidly performed and brilliantly directed and designed.”
Read the reviews2023—2026Every show.
Reviews & photographs.Enter the production archive
Two performers meeting face to face
02Encounter

The body
writes
the play.

Nothing is hidden. Every breath, tremor and shift of weight belongs to the story.

03How we work

Made
in the
room.

01

Presence

Attention to breath, weight, gaze and the immediate truth of the performer.

02

Risk

Theatre happens between us—in attention and the electric fact of being together.

03

Transformation

Ordinary objects become charged. Empty space becomes a world. A body becomes many lives.

04Biography

Five decades
of theatre.

Graham Tyrer—who writes and directs as Danny Masewicz—has spent fifty years making theatre as an actor, director, writer and teacher.

His practice has moved between classical text, European theatre, new writing, ensemble work and education. Across those decades he has directed work by Shakespeare, Ibsen, Jarry, Stoppard, Churchill and Wertenbaker, while continuing to perform.

Recent firstlight work brings that long practice together with his Polish family history. As Danny Masewicz he wrote and directed Under Katyń (2023), Do Not Forget Me (2024) and My Child, Oh My Child (2025): a trilogy about memory, displacement, adoption, identity and reconciliation.

The constant throughout is independent public theatre: actor-centred, physically alive, visually exact and made through the encounter between people in a room.

Read the stage biography
05firstlight publications

Words
in print.

firstlight has published Danny Masewicz’s three plays in A Polish Trilogy and his collection of poetry.

Play · 2024Under KatyńPlay · 2024Do Not Forget Me
Nie Zapomnij MniePlay · 2024My Child, Oh My ChildPoetry · 2024Flowers in Auschwitz
Poems 2020–2023

Also by Graham Tyrer

2018100 Ideas for Secondary Teachers: Literacy Across the Curriculum2013The Literacy Leader’s Toolkit2010Learning to Lead
All Danny Masewicz booksAll Graham Tyrer books
06Archive

Fifty years
in pictures.

A table waiting on the firstlight stage
01What changes when an ordinary table becomes a stage?
A performer in bridal costume
02When does costume stop decorating and start speaking?
Newspaper feature on Under Katyń
03What remains of a performance after the curtain falls?
Graham Tyrer performing
04How little does an actor need to make us believe?

“The cast, to a person, is sublime.”

Under KatyńStratford-upon-Avon Herald
Two actors in performance
05What is happening in the space between these two bodies?
Press coverage of firstlight's Polish trilogy
06Can theatre carry a history too painful for ordinary speech?
The audience surrounding the playing space
07What changes when the audience shares the playing space?
Rehearsing around a script
08At what moment does reading become rehearsal?
Polish poster for Under Katyń
09Can a poster hold the emotional promise of a play?

“This is a remarkably good play, beautifully done.”

Do Not Forget MeStratford-upon-Avon Herald
Katyń exhibition panels
10How does documentary evidence become living theatre?
The company and guests on opening night
11Who completes the work: performer, maker or audience?
A performer held in purple light
12What can coloured light reveal that daylight conceals?
A close encounter on stage
13How close must actors come before tension becomes visible?
The stage seen from the auditorium
14What does an empty auditorium ask of the imagination?
The production photographer at work
15Who decides which instant of a performance will survive?

“The best new play award would go to Danny Masewicz.”

Do Not Forget MeTheatre Highlights 2024
Movement in rehearsal
16Can the body discover what the script has not yet said?
Graham Tyrer in rehearsal
17What is the director listening for in the room?
Two actors together on the sofa
18How can stillness between two actors become an event?
A performer beside the piano
19When does a familiar object become theatrically charged?
A performer tipping his hat
20Can one small gesture reveal an entire character?
Three women in a charged stage encounter
21Who holds the power in this moment—and how can we tell?

“The performances are outstanding, creating lasting images and moments.”

My Child, Oh My ChildStratford-upon-Avon Herald
A performer crossing the stage
22What happens when rhythm carries the story forward?
The ensemble in performance
23How does an ensemble breathe as one and remain individual?
The ensemble building a scene
24What must be risked before a scene becomes alive?
firstlight posters outside the theatre
25How does the theatre begin before we enter the building?
A young audience and company after the show
26What does an audience take away that the actors never see?
The theatre before the audience arrives
27Who is the empty theatre waiting for?
A painted doorway on the stage
28What world might exist on the other side of this door?

“A fiercely funny European masterpiece.”

The Morality of Mrs DulskaElementary WhatsOn
A performer finding the breath of a scene
29Can breath turn private feeling into shared experience?
Press feature: Untold stories
30Which untold stories are asking for a stage?
The Under Katyń poster outside the theatre
31What promise does a theatre poster make to its audience?
Poster for Do Not Forget Me
32How can one image invite us into an unknown story?
A firstlight collaborator outdoors
33What does a performer carry from life into the rehearsal room?
07Watch

Watch

Cross Countyfirstlight theatre
YouTube
More filmsfirstlight
on YouTube
08Listen

firstlight presents

The
Poetry
Podcast

Poems we love. Poems of our own. Voices meeting through language, memory and the pleasure of listening.

Graham Tyrer, Fiona Gulec and Andrew Anderson share poetry from their hearts.

Listen on YouTube
The firstlight company together on stage

For audiences, artists and collaborators.

Made
together.