Writer: Emma Dennis-Edwards
Director: Lynette Linton
When we first meet mother and daughter Joyce (Gold Roshuevel) and Erica (Letitia Wright), there is something of an Absolutely Fabulous vibe about them. As the somewhat distant pair come together to return to Guyana to spread the ashes of Joyce’s late mother, Elaine, Rosheuvel’s character is larger-than-life, snaffling other people’s welcome drinks in their business class aircraft cabin, ordering shots at the hotel bar, and flirting with the barman.
But despite Emma Dennis-Edwards’s script containing multiple laugh lines – including some fun references to Ryan Coogler’s film Sinners, a particularly meta joke considering Wright’s best-known role to date has been in the same director’s Black Panther movies – there are, of course, dark clouds that need exploration.
Erica, who is putting herself through therapy, is aware that there is multigenerational trauma that needs to be worked out. Family superstition, though, prefers the explanation of an ancient curse on the bloodline due to an ancestor’s adultery. But what is clear is that both Joyce and Erica have had very different relationships with Elaine, and unpacking those differences will involve analysis of their own fractured relationship.
Alex Berry’s cubic set relies upon lighting and video effects to transport us around Guyana, from a lively karaoke bar to the beauty of Kaieteur Falls, one of the venues where Erica wishes to scatter her grandmother’s ashes. But this is all backdrop to the actors’ performances, both interacting as each other and then taking turns to portray Elaine in a series of flashbacks. Dennis-Edwards teases out the relationships in pieces, although it’s clear quite quickly that Joyce’s present-day gung-ho attitude hides a lot of pain and poor mental health.
Director Lynette Linton brings out some impressive performances, especially when Rosheuval is interacting with Wright as her mother. Rosheuval portrays the young Joyce’s vulnerability and her need for support with a delicacy that the present-day character tries hard to hide. As the characters explore their complicated relationships with each other and the departed Elaine, both actors mine the depths of emotion and humour.
Dennis-Edwards also brings in subplots surrounding the women’s relationships with men. Joyce has two unsuccessful marriages behind her, at least one of which was characterised by coercive abuse, while Erica is considering breaking up with her new fiancé for reasons she can’t express, particularly to her mother. Some of these strands are left unexplored, but the play is much more concerned with how these relationships leave scars on the women and then resurface in their dysfunctional parent-child interactions.
With so much emotional trauma to be explored, catharsis is inevitable. Rapprochement between the three generations of women emerges by the end, of course. Wounds are not entirely healed, but are dressed and salved. These characters are not superwomen, Dennis-Edwards makes us appreciate; each has caused the others pain in ways that were typically unintentional, but the real damage came from those hurts being left alone.
But if the arc of Not Your Superwoman feels overfamiliar, the performances elevate the piece. These are women we want to spend time with, and their journey towards healing is one we want to walk with them.
Runs until 1 November 2025
