By Alan Harris. Director Braiden Toko. Secret House in association with Bakehouse Theatre Co. KXT on Broadway. 11 – 26 September, 2026
Reviewed : 18 September, 2026
The title of this remarkable play about social isolation and loneliness comes from the first lines of a sonnet by British poet John Milton written in the 17th century. Milton, who had become blind at the age of 43, used his disability to explain that “they also serve who only stand and wait.” (Sonnet 19 circa 1653)
Four centuries later Welsh playwright Alan Harris uses Milton’s message in a play about ordinary people dealing with feeling socially unseen in a society that is constantly changing and becoming more isolating.
But How My Light is Spent is not pessimistic. Harris suggests that the same technologies – like the mobile phone – that seem to be dividing society can forge connections that can be strong and enduring, and even “otherworldly.”
Jimmy is 34. He’s divorced and separated from his teenage daughter. He lives with his mother and works behind the window in a drive through doughnut restaurant. Kitty lives in a granny flat and is an adult chat line operator. Every Wednesday night, when his mother is out, Jimmy rings Kitty for 9 minutes at £1.20 a minute.
They meet when Jimmy recognises Kitty’s voice as she picks up some doughnuts and generously leaves some for the family in the car behind her. Though Jimmy thinks he is in love with Kitty, she isn’t interested in closer relationships.
When Jimmy loses his job to an automatic coin bin, his conversations with Kitty become more important. Unemployed and isolated, he sinks into anxiety. Then his hands begin to disappear … and eventually he becomes completely invisible except for his toes …
Through Jimmy and Kitty, How My Light is Spent explores the problems of loneliness and isolation in contemporary society and the need to find new ways to connect and feel seen and accepted. The play is warm and positive and this production directed by Braiden Toko highlights the cleverness of Harris’s ability to say important things in simple language through characters that are very recognisable and real.
James Smithers finds that reality in a very touching portrayal of Jimmy. His Jimmy is hesitant, socially naïve, a bit defeated and bewildered about the difficulty of establishing lasting relationships, especially with his daughter Mallary. It’s easier to retreat and hide behind the telephone. Smithers shows Jimmy’s gradual slide into despairing isolation and invisibility in a very poignant way that is totally believable.
Jane Angharad creates a Kitty who does not fit the ‘image’ of a sex chat line operator. She is distant but understanding, a good listener, but restrained and perceptive, a perception that is even more obvious as both Jimmy and her landlord Stevo reach out to her for a more complex relationship. She is careful, self-protective, but kind and compassionate.
Though the third character in the play is a Narrator, Toko uses three actors rather than one. This is a clever directorial decision that enables the actors to highlight the humour in Harris’s writing by personalising quotes from the other people in Jimmy and Kitty’ lives. It also creates more opportunity for movement and reaction.
For instance, as well as narrating Renée Billing individualises the words and inferences of Jimmy’s bossy, accusatory mother Rita and Peake, his monosyllabic, insensitive boss. Pita Lolohea shows through Stevo’s thoughtful reactions – and his dark, understanding eyes – the gentle accepting nature of the man. Kira McClennan’s narration also gives her the opportunity to bring to life the teenage insight and gentle cheekiness of Mallary and her realisation of Jimmy’s need to be seen.
Toko uses these three actors to add movement and a greater sense of compassion and urgency to the production as well as establishing a clear sense of place and time. Set in Newport, an industrial area twelve miles north of Cardiff, the play infers a place of hardship and the Narrators give it a stronger depth, identity and pace.
All five actors sustain the gentle intonations and cadence of the Welsh accent throughout the performance. That is essential in this play where so much of the meaning, humour and witty asides depend on a lilt and rhythm that is particularly Welsh. That rhythm infuses Toko’s production. The action, carefully judged, smooth and purposeful, accentuates the essential optimism of the play.
The “light” in the title of the play is also accented by James Smithers who designed and built the set as well as playing the leading role. Jimmy and Kitty’s ‘spaces’ are two oblong of translucent glass lit from the inside. The walls of the stage are mirrored panels reflecting every action and reaction.
Clare Sheridan uses carefully judged lighting to enhance the set and the action, and Anthony MacDermott provides subtly designed music and sound effects that add poignancy, and humour, in specific scenes.
There is a strong sense of unity in this production, a genuine empathy with the characters and real belief in the playwright’s faith in humanity.
Also published in Stage Whispers magazine