House and Amongst the Reeds

This double-bill from Clean Break came from an emerging writers programme focused on female BAME writers. The resulting plays, by Somalia Seaton and Chino Odimba, have as their shared fabric the criminalisation of young women, mental health issues and teenage motherhood.

House is a domestic drama that bubbles with hidden secrets. When the twitchy Pat returns to visit her deeply religious mother and sister, unspeakable truths are slowly uncovered. Seaton’s opening and closing speeches have a beautiful intensity, shimmering with poetic imagery, but she can pen note-perfect naturalistic dialogue too. Where it struggles is in moving the story on – House occasionally lurches from the humdrum to the dramatic.

Still, three really first-class performances elevate it: Shvorne Marks is compelling as the edgy Pat; Rebecca Omogbehin hugely appealing as her guileless sister; while Michelle Greenidge gives a monumentally imperious performance as a woman whose prioritising of religion and respectability means she is blinded to her children’s needs.

Amongst the Reeds is about two teenage girls who slip through the cracks. Illegal immigrants, they end up hiding in a foul, dark, empty house, in a toxic relationship of deluded mutual dependency. Tonally, Odimba’s play quavers; Oni and Gillian, her runaways, are intriguing but their dynamic never quite works. Oni essentially psychologically traps her heavily pregnant friend, but while the practical reasons for Gillian's fear of daylight are eventually disclosed, the psychological motivation for Oni’s unhealthy possessiveness is never brought to light. Another nice (and very different) performance from Omogbehin, alongside a vulnerable Jan Le, still aren’t quite enough to convince.