Review: EXPENSIVE SHIT, Soho Theatre

Written and directed by Adura Onashile, Expensive Shit is not afraid to confront an uncomfortable truth. Going back and forth between Lagos in 1994 and Glasgow in 2013, the play centres on Tolu, a toilet attendant, and her relationship with the people around her.

Set to Fela Kuti's Afrobeat, Tolu (Kiza Deen) and three other women (Veronica Lewis, Jamie Marie Leary, and Maria Yarjah) do more than make small talk in the club toilets: they share strong ideas about gender and politics, and their different personalities bring them into conflict.

Onashile's fast-paced dialogue, the actresses' full ownership of their characters and Fela's music combine to create a compelling and energetic production that takes the audience on a profound journey.

Two different societies are compared, and what comes out of it is a harsh reflection on the role of women, especially the position men put them in. The power dynamics of the male gaze are under the spotlight. Onashile makes the audience complicit by placing us the in role of men via the two-way mirrors, forcing us to be as intrusive and cruel.

Deen, Lewis, Leary, and Yarjah make a strong, compact ensemble, and their performances are nuanced and subtle. Their authenticity is as thrilling as their dance moves.

The playwright's direction is as impressive as her writing. Her alternating intense, thought-provoking moments with witty dance numbers represents the characters' souls perfectly, and her collaboration with Lucy Wild on movement and Simon Hayes on lighting makes the play visually outstanding. It is through Hayes's work that the show clearly jumps back and forth in time.

Karen Tennent's set design is effective, and its realism and immediacy are as powerful as the women represented on the stage: three toilet doors open onto an empty space where all the scenes take place; all around the stage there are thin tables and lights mounted on ceiling-to-floor bars, symbolising the mirrors.

Expensive Shit is a feminist journey with a strong message that needs to be heard.

Expensive Shit runs at Soho Theatre until 22 April.

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