Superhoe

by Nicôle Lecky

Sasha Clayton's 24 and living with her mum, step-dad, and irritating little sister, in Plaistow. She's gone from being the most popular girl at school, to spending most of her time on her own in her bedroom scrolling through social media. She may not have a job or a flat, and, admittedly her boyfriend's not answering her calls; but she's got talent and a dream – when she releases her first EP everything's going to change. Nicôle Lecky's play Superhoe was premiered by Talawa Theatre and the Royal Court at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in 2019.

Genres: Plays

60 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 31, 2019

Reviews

[:) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I watched the series then read the play. It was really interesting to see the adaptation from playtext to screenplay. The series and the book blew me away. Nicole Lecky has created a terrifyingly honest perception of the sex workers industry in modern London. Through the character of Sasha and the people she meets along her journey, we can empathise with those in the industry and understand their reasons for doing so, instead of blindly judging them. This is an extremely important play about chasing your dreams when the odds are against you. Nicole Lecky has brought the world and all the other characters to life in the form of a one woman play. The ending is heartbreaking and leaves us pining for Sasha’s professional and personal success.

[abir · Rating 5 out of 5]

brilliant play. i saw the show 2 years ago and loved every second of it - and the play is just as good. hope i can see it live someday.

[Liralen · Rating 3 out of 5]

At 24, Sasha is convinced that her big break is just around the corner, as soon as she drops her EP—but in the meantime, she spends most of her time in her childhood bedroom, whiling time away and feeling isolated from her all-white household. But when she picks one too many fights with her family, she's out a place to stay...and that's when things start to change.

This must be an absolute beast to perform—it's a one-woman show, and gosh but Sasha can talk. Rather stream-of-consciousness in some places, with Sasha either recapping conversations or relating both (or all) sides of whatever dialogue took place. The play also gets quite dark. I won't get into the details, but the play demonstrates how easy it can be to slide from a tolerable situation into an entirely intolerable one without entirely noticing it.

There's a big reveal at the end, which I didn't love; it felt like it was supposed to give context for the rest of the play (which, to be fair: it did), but it also opens up an enormous new can of worms. It would be hard to explore both that reveal and the events that take up the bulk of the play without, you know, doubling it in length, so I can see why it's not explored in any detail, but...I guess I'm not a huge fan of that kind of targeted shock at the end.

Probably not my thing to watch as a play, but I bet it would be fascinating for actors with an interest in solo performances.