Unheard Voices, Unbroken Spirits
A new musical written, performed, and produced by young people with direct experience of the care system — telling the stories the system itself so often misses.
★★★★ Binge Fringe Magazine
★★★★ The Scotsman
Featured on STV
★★★★ Musical Theatre Review
The show
A story told by the people who lived it.
Unheard Voices, Unbroken Spirits follows a group of friends who are all in care, as they navigate mental health struggles, difficult home lives, and a school system that too often treats them as case files rather than people. At the centre is Daisy, the group's social glue — determined, then struggling, then told by a safeguarding officer she'll "amount to nothing." It doesn't shy away from the hard parts — but the overriding feeling, right through to the closing company number, is one of resilience, hope, and friendship.
What sets it apart is who made it. Every line, lyric, and performance came from young people who are themselves care-experienced — not a story written about them, but one written and owned by them. It was directed and composed by Talia Maysey and Oskar Landley, working alongside writer Lauren Boyle, who is care-experienced herself.
How it started
A 12-week programme that became something bigger.
Week 1
A partnership, not a workshop
The project began as a 12-week programme run in partnership with West Dunbartonshire Council and Action for Children, giving care-experienced young people a space to write and perform their own stories.
Week 12
Brought in-house
What started as a fixed-length programme didn't end there. TAME brought the project in-house, continuing to develop the show, the cast, and the music well beyond its original scope.
Aug 2026
To the Fringe, with a dual cast
The finished musical played at Big Yin, Gilded Balloon Patter House, through August 2026, with two alternating casts so that as many of the company as possible could take part on stage.
On screen
Picked up by STV
The show's story reached beyond the Fringe audience entirely, with a feature on STV bringing the cast's work to a national audience.
What people said
Reviewed by critics. Felt by everyone else.
"Beautiful, heartbreaking insight into caring" — these talented, resilient young people's account rings true at every turn.
The Scotsman · ★★★★
"Honest, powerful, and beautifully told" — a huge credit to everyone who brought it to life.
Jordan Hammond · Audience member
One reviewer, who grew up in care himself, said the cast needed no acting training — they simply told their own stories, brilliantly.
Shaun Joynson · Audience member
"Powerful and insightful" — with a cast whose confidence built right up to the closing number.
Binge Fringe Magazine · ★★★★
"Powerful and insightful" — with a cast whose confidence built right up to the closing number.
Binge Fringe Magazine · ★★★★
A volunteer with Who Cares? Scotland found it moving, emotional, and quietly educational, all at once.
Heather Tyeson · Audience member
She recognised friends she'd lost over the years in the story on stage, and thanked the cast for giving them a voice.
Anonymous · Audience member
This is where the rest of TAME Studios starts.
Unheard Voices, Unbroken Spirits wasn't a one-off show — it's the reason TAME Studios exists in its current form. It proved that when young people with lived experience are given real creative ownership, not just a seat in the audience, the results are powerful enough to move a room, reach national television, and outlast a single Fringe run. The Scotsman's review noted it sits alongside National Theatre of Scotland's own work in this space — a sign this approach to care-experienced storytelling is being recognised well beyond the Fringe.
That same belief is now shaping everything TAME Studios does next: turning the show into training material for professionals who work with care-experienced young people, and building new creative and apprenticeship pathways — starting with games development — so more young people get the kind of platform this cast did.
