Fireflies and Fault Lines was one of the very few full productions done at the 2026 Next Step Festival. Billed as a dramedy with music, it successfully fulfils that commitment. The simple but full set immediately relaxes audience members as they walk into the theater. It evokes the feeling of walking into a spa with music and lighting designed to create calmness.

Watching the show, and not being familiar with the place of fireflies in Asian culture, I first thought Brijbag was using the firefly image that Maybe Happy Ending uses with the visit of Claire and Oliver to Jeuju Island, but learned that that firefly image is often used to create images of love and nostalgia in many Asian cultures and Brijbag embraces this imagery to great effect.

The story is the story of four people and three relationships as they go on the eight step “Firefly” walk. Each stop requires interaction that characters might be reluctant to address, but failure to participate risk the wrath of the Fireflies. The three couples are two relatively new couples and one couple that broke up 7 or 8 months ago. The story teases about the new couples breaking up and the old couple getting back together, but ultimately concludes with the broken up couple getting the closure they never had and the new couples continuing on their journey.

Brijbag piece is very beautiful and reassuring. But, ultimately, it ends where it began, perhaps with a little more peace for our 4 protagonists. It is the construction, more than the story, that will capture the audience, but that can be a hard ask for many audience members outside a niche group.