What are the themes of your play?
Places Of Me explores the interplay between grief and language, spirituality and the search for belonging.
Why did you write it and why now?
As a British-Nigerian I’ve been reconciling with the fact that many West African households think about death more than they speak about it. I’ve also been investigating the tremendous effects it has on our bodies, our minds and our overall wellbeing. The idea of omitting your pain to your own demise is something I’ve partly experienced after losing my Dad and only really beginning to process my grief 15 years after his death. I never knew how to speak about it – I just felt it deeply, living in me and making some kind of home in me. Places Of Me started off as a love letter to younger me who didn’t get to grieve and evolved into a love letter to girls like younger me and women like me, and then older women like my Mum – who never get to process their grief messily, freely – authentically. Who have adopted unhelpful customs in swallowing and restraining the raw pain of their losses. Who ought to know that there can be joy and freedom on the other side.
Which playwrights are you influenced by and why?
Arinze Kene’s plays, specifically Misty, quite literally changed the course of my journey as a storyteller. His writing is bold, honest, daring and genre-spanning. Made me realise how boundless and limitless theatre can be and I knew from that moment, after watching Misty, I wanted to spend the rest of my life telling stories I didn’t think was possible to make.
debbie tucker green’s reinvention of how we use language, silence and everything in between to tell a story has inspired me to be more intentional and precious about words. Every line, beat, stage direction holds meaning and that level of thoughtfulness is another level of craftmanship I’d like to reach. Also, her boldness to create stories and conversations on urgent topics/experiences people can be quite tentative and safe about is liberating.
Winsome Pinnock’s Leave Taking help birthed Places Of Me. Prior to reading Leave Taking I failed to see black women represented with nuance, depth, tenderness and complexity. She’s one of the many giants whose shoulders I stand on.
What do you hope to achieve as a playwright?
I hope to tell stories that competently and imaginatively platform underrepresented communities and under-explored issues. I hope to tell stories that don’t just entertain but liberate. I hope to tell stories that spark conversations on buses, kitchen tables and phone calls that encourage introspection, empathy and challenge – whatever that looks like.