Liberian Girl, Royal Court Upstairs - theatre review

Diana Nneka Atuona's debut play is a poignant study of innocence lost amid the terror of war. Newcomer Juma Sharkah delivers a finely judged performance
Liberian Girl: Juma Sharkah
Henry Hitchings8 February 2015

Diana Nneka Atuona's debut play may share its title with a twinkly Michael Jackson song but it presents a disturbing vision of the abuse women suffer in wartime.

During the first Liberian Civil War, which raged from 1989 to 1996, children were routinely compelled to become soldiers. But Atuona’s main character, 14-year-old Martha, is unusual in having two roles to act out.

Even before she has to copy the gun-toting sadism of the rebels supporting flamboyant warlord Charles Taylor, she’s obliged to pretend to be a boy in order to avoid being violated by them.

The play maps Martha’s struggle to survive among these drug-addled, belligerent youths — who flaunt nicknames such as Killer and make no secret of their appetite for defiling any girls they encounter. Newcomer Juma Sharkah delivers a finely judged performance that combines sensitivity with moments of angst and bravado.

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1/50

Around her there is raw, gritty work from a mainly youthful cast. Valentine Olukoga, Michael Ajao and Weruche Opia all make a strong impression. Director Matthew Dunster has created an intimate and uncomfortable production (which will have brief runs at Peckham’s Bussey Building and Tottenham’s Bernie Grant Arts Centre next month). As for Atuona, she pictures brutality in all its naked mindlessness. With verve, albeit in a style that’s a bit too raucous, she shows how war can erode familiar notions of childhood and humanity.

Until Jan 31 (020 7565 5000, royalcourttheatre.com)

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