A real-life love story about staying present when someone you love is in crisis
When: Thursday 14 May 2026
Where: The Lemon Tree
Tickets: aberdeenperformingarts.com
Alys Williams’s autobiographical one-woman show arrives in Aberdeen this week, bringing with it a story she has been telling, revising and living since long before it took to the stage. The Light House is about being in love with someone who doesn’t want to be alive, and what it takes to stay present through that.
The show includes gentle audience participation and moves between poetry, song and direct address. It is warm rather than heavy, and Williams has a gift for finding the funny even inside the most difficult material.
“I wanted to tell that story”
Williams has spoken about how The Light House grew from the sense that public conversation around mental health rarely makes room for the people alongside those in crisis. “Our society is getting so much better at talking about mental health and suicide,” she has said, “but I still don’t think we hear many stories about the care involved or the possibility of recovery.”
The response to previous touring dates has clearly landed with audiences in ways Williams didn’t fully anticipate. She is still receiving messages from people who saw the last tour.
Aberdeen Performing Arts head of programming Steven Milne has described it as a show that “carefully takes us through some difficult territory, and is ultimately an incredible story of hope.”
The Light House is at the Lemon Tree on Thursday 14 May.
