Oreo at #PUSH2020

From 23rd - 25th January I'm performing Oreo at Home as part of Push Festival 2020.

The team caught up with me and asked me some questions about the show, here's my response:

What’s your show about? (Tell us something that the copy on the website doesn’t!)

‘Oreo’ is a show about discovering myself and who I am - stripping back the layers of myself that have been imposed on by a racialised society. Through ‘Oreo’ I explore the masks we wear in order to survive in a climate of systemic racism. I use the show to question “how can I be truly authentic to my identity when we live in a world filled with racial micro-aggressions?”. I am trying to uncover my authentic voice and self.

What’s been the most exciting discovery you’ve made in the process of making this piece?

The project has evolved over time and continues to grow as I grow as an individual and artist. Through the development of ‘Oreo’ I have been able to continually explore and delve deeper into the difficult conversations and the complexities of what it means to be black in Great Britain. What’s really exciting about making the show is the challenge of telling uncomfortable stories and asking questions that can’t be easily answered. At the crux of it, I’m interrogating my identity and how others perceive my identity and the identities of people like me – and that’s an ongoing process of discovery.

Why make this show now and what’s its significance to the North West (if any)?

I wanted to make this work now because I want to have a space that opens a conversation about race relations in this hostile time of Brexit. I think this work is urgent because it speaks about the mask, who has a voice and who can speak and how the notion of speaking and masking one’s self is linked to the idea of self-hatred and whiteness. Lastly, it is fundamentally about healing practices - self-love plays a major role in the rebuilding of communities and decolonising oneself.

Who inspires you/your work? (Doesn’t have to be a theatre maker, can be anyone in your life!)

My family members are the ones that inspire me to make work, while I listen to stories about their lived experiences and everything they had to go through so that I could have the choice to be an artist.

Performance dates:

Thursday 23rd January, 7pm.

Friday 24th January, 9pm.

Saturday 25th January 7pm (followed by a short Q&A).

Get your tickets here.

And I hope to see you there!