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 Shedding A Skin

The Soho Theatre launched its post-lockdown summer season this week with Shedding A Skin, written and performed by Amanda Wilkin, the 2020 winner of the Verity Bargate Award.

Wilkin imbues the narrative with energy and physicality

It’s an ultimately celebratory piece that follows the recent times of Myah dealing with life as a woman of colour in an office that lacks certain sensitivities. More concerned about holding on to her coffee mug than her job, she assesses her life, makes some significant decisions, and finds herself moving into lodgings with Mildred. As the mysteries and secrets of this elderly Jamaican lady’s life gradually unfold, Myah is increasingly captivated and inspired by her new acquaintance.

Wilkin imbues the narrative with energy and physicality, not only when delivering the lines, but also when dismantling the minimalist and versatile partitions and peeling back the layers of skin-like blinds of the increasingly fascinating set by Rosanna Vize. The humour is inherent in the script, but she delivers it with a variety of voices that reflect her moods and the characters she encounters. Facial contortions, eyes that emphasise, gestures that speak and bodily tortuosity become the repertoire of skills that support her varied and uninhibited delivery.

It would all flow very smoothly if her story were not interspersed at each major juncture with a visual outburst and newsflash-style announcement about something happening a given distance away. The distance of the event becomes shorter with each scene, but each is introduced with the words, “In the same moment xx miles away....”, starting at 568 miles and decreasing through 360, 283, 243,132, 56, 5, until the lengths become intimately short and are no longer part of a visual display, but instead are spoken by Myah. The On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences came up with no results for this string of numbers, so they are perhaps as random as the events they accompany. In their own right the projections are spectacular. Lighting designer Jess Bernberg and projection designer Nina Dunn, alongside sound designer and composer Richard Hammarton have combined to create effects worthy of a planetarium display. The difficulty is in finding the connection between them and Myah’s story. Or is that while Myah is absorbed in her world life goes on in many ways and places around her, suggesting a tangential commonality with the rest of mankind? It all begs the question as to whether the play needs these scenes at all.

Director Elayce Ismail has meticulously designed this production to heighten the impact of each scene with almost choreographic precision. Words and movement are mutually supportive in this story which she rightly says “has weight and depth, but is ultimately very joyful and positive”.

That was very much the feeling at the end of Shedding A Skin, not just about the play, but because audiences, actors and creatives were once more back where they ought to be doing what they love.

Reviews by Richard Beck

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Since you’re here…

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You can donate to the charity of your choice, but if you're looking for inspiration, there are three charities we really like.

Mama Biashara
Kate Copstick’s charity, Mama Biashara, works with the poorest and most marginalised people in Kenya. They give grants to set up small, sustainable businesses that bring financial independence and security. That five quid you spend on a large glass of House White? They can save someone’s life with that. And the money for a pair of Air Jordans? Will take four women and their fifteen children away from a man who is raping them and into a new life with a moneymaking business for Mum and happiness for the kids.
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Theatre MAD
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Acting for Others provides financial and emotional support to all theatre workers in times of need through the 14 member charities. During the COVID-19 crisis Acting for Others have raised over £1.7m to support theatre workers affected by the pandemic.
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Performances

Location

The Blurb

Soho Theatre celebrates the relaunch of its theatre programme this summer with an exhilarating new play, the first to be staged in front of live audiences since the pandemic. Shedding A Skin, by Amanda Wilkin is about finding kindness in unexpected places, moments of connection, intergenerational friendship and joy: new skin honouring old skin. A play about joy, healing, protest and having a good belly laugh.

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