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Showing posts with the label Rotimi Babatunde

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More sex and violence: Playfight @sohotheatre

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The funny thing about three girls growing up under a tree is that you never quite know when they're being serious or just messing about. One time, they might be talking about giving blow jobs on a tennis court at school and another, they might be yearning for a connection that they can't quite explain. That's what happens in Playfight, an Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2024 hit currently showing at Soho Theatre .  Writer Julia Grogan doesn't give us much time to dwell on the lives of these three young teenage girls. One minute, they're fifteen and giggling, and then the next thing, they're off getting married or going to University. But underneath all the smutty talk, humour, and quick scene changes, there is a darker underbelly about relationships, power, and consent. It's about finding your way in a complex world that can dehumanise and degrade you. But as things move so quickly, you could blink and miss it. This is too bad as the performances capturing this co...

Big Rhythms: The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives @arcolatheatre

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There’s no subject matter taboo in The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives. This is a play where the title character’s penis is described as “so big that two men could share it and still be well-endowed.” The characters talk to the audience, throw props at them and emerge from the audience. Detailed and frank depictions of sex and gender dynamics play out before you at the Arcola Theatre . Yet behind the funny and frank depictions of sex, there’s clever storytelling in this adaptation for stage by Rotimi Babatunde, from Lola Shoneyin’s novel. It deftly moves between comedy and drama, past and present without skipping a beat. Baba Segi (Patrice Naiambana) looms large over the piece. He’s a rich business man. But he’s also a buffoon who has three wives. The combination makes him likable even if he cannot believe women can fend for themselves or if he uses his organ on them like a hammer. His first wife had money and was the daughter of his mother’s friend. His second wife was to pay a debt...