imaginary natural beings – VAULT Festival, London

Writer: Mojola Akinyemi

Director: Issy Snape

In her second full-length play, hotly tipped newcomer Mojola Akinyemi weaves themes of coming-of-age, harassment and mental health with examinations of the artificial structures of the theatre. By accentuating the simple set and lighting, and mixing references to experimental high concept theatre with wonderfully acted naturalistic vignettes, the play is attention-grabbing and thought-provoking throughout.

“The girl”, played with restraint and depth by Darcy Dixon, begins the play in an environment of psychiatric examination, at odds with a rather cold therapist who implies that the girl’s main problem is that she is a narcissist. This sets the scene for a series of events that leave the girl constantly victimised in a way that projects the existentialist narrative of the absurd hero navigating an indifferent world onto the modern maze of everyday sexism and racism faced by a Black woman.

imaginary natural beings is peopled with grotesque recurring characters set on upending the girl’s mental health. Their nightmarish quality deftly illustrates the heightened perceptions of a person beleaguered by a lack of sympathy. Conversely, the other main character, “the boy”, played by Jack Medlin, represents the girl’s predatory love interests in a deeply understated, naturalistic way. That he is perhaps the most malign of all the characters but is portrayed as relatively normal could be because we are seeing him from her perspective, blinded by his manipulation. Scenes where he is subtly coercing her are the most compellingly acted and well written. There are moments of discomfort as well as visceral hatred, spanning the lifespan of a relationship, that ring arrestingly true.

There are also moments of incisive humour: a brash, incompetent pharmacist the girl has the misfortune to encounter when seeking the morning-after pill is sitcom-level funny, as is a boss to whom the girl complains about racial harassment (the boss replies that there is only one race: the human race).

Then, at times, the play draws attention to itself, announcing monologues, referencing Beckett, as well as interspersing modernistic symbolism and voiceover. It’s a difficult task to incorporate these kinds of ambitious approaches to storytelling without coming across as needlessly arty but Akinyemi has, on the whole, succeeded – mainly because those scenes serve to flesh out the characters and mirror the recursive instability of the protagonist’s inner world. The range of the writing is dizzying and shows Akinyemi has an impressive, playful grasp of how modern theatre can challenge as well as entertain.

Runs until 27 January 2023