Photo: Hannah Akhalu, Tara Tijani and Sewa Zamba. © Helen Murray
Daniel Nelson
Fourteen years after the kidnapping of 276 Nigerian schoolgirls by an extremist Islamic gang, and a decade since a theatrical response, Girls, was first performed in London, it’s back on stage.
Shockingly, some 90 girls from the mass abduction in Chibok, northern Nigeria, remain unaccounted for. And kidnappings continue today.
So though the context has changed since the seizure of the Chibok pupils by Boko Haram, the director of the new production of Girls, Ewa Dina, says, “From the alarming rise in violence against women, to reproductive rights being stripped away, to schools being bombed and women being raped in the very places they went to get an education, it feels like a scary time to be a woman, let alone one who exists among the margins of the margins.
“None of this is new, but it feels particularly pressing now.”
Playwright Theresa Ikoku deliberately avoided the specific political and social aspects of the Chibok incident and focuses on the personalities of three kidnapped friends and how they and their friendship stand up under pressure. The scenes of them playing, teasing, squabbling, reminiscing, thinking about what little they know of sex, complaining about the food, singing, mocking the Government’s shamefully feeble attempt to cover up its inadequacy, are a delight, a way of passing time, keeping their spirits up and allaying fears of what might happen to them.
An air of danger hovers, but the real drama bubbles to the surface as each develops her own personal way of dealing with the situation: preparing an escape; naively hoping for rescue while trying to do what Christian pastor father would have wanted; shacking up with a member of the gang.
As their plans take shape, the tensions grow. Can their camaraderie survive the pressure cooker force of their protracted captivity? Sisterhood is put to a severe test.
The girls are brought vividly to life by Hannah Akhalu, Tara Tijani and Sewa Zamba, though the play’s intensity drops a notch towards the end, despite a highly charged plot twist.
+ Post-show talks: 28 Oct with Piece of Cake Productions; 7 Nov with People of Theatre; 18 Nov with The Nourishment
Girls is at the Young Vic, 66 The Cut SE1 8LZ until 21 November. Info: Young Vic