cheeky little brown is a contemporary footnote of our hunger for love
“Love” is such a magical word, both a noun and a verb. As a noun, it means a property one can have or lack; as a verb, it signifies the most treasured ability to create and maintain human intersubjectivity. cheeky little brown, produced by tiata fahodzi and from the pen of Nkenna Akunna, explores this duality of love through the character of “Lady”, a young woman who craves love but struggles with her own ability of loving others.
The story starts with the Lady being invited to the birthday party of her childhood best friend, Gemma. Having known each other since they were five, they are recognised as “sister-friends” by all people around them. At the party, Lady ruins Gemma’s new rug out of her constant drinking and overeating. She leaves the party, going back home with a full pack of take-away kebabs. Falling into sleep and having a strange nightmare, she finds Gemma outsider her door. As some may already guess, it is revealed that the pair were lovers, and they just had a break-up six months ago due to Lady’s constant pushing away and hurting Gemma.
The first half of the play, set at Gemma’s birthday party, feels somewhat trivial and fragmented, with Lady, this mordant “Ms Quickly”, mocking Gemma’s new college friends after she is ignored by her childhood bestie. Tiajna Amayo successfully delivers the inner controversy of Lady: her apparent confidence — manifested in oblivious eating, drinking, and singing — is a veneer for her desperate need to be noticed, seen, and loved, particularly by Gemma.
Amayo unfortunately got hurt shortly before the show, so she has to use crutches which actually does not affect the performance at all. On the contrary, it adds another ironic layer to the story, accentuating Lady’s internal struggle as even more stark: how strong and independent she is, managing all her way (the party, the bus, and the kebab shop) on crutches; how fragile and vulnerable at the same time, yearning for love.
The play begins to coalesce in the second half after Lady leaves. The revelation of their past relationship comes as no surprise because the key words “six months” continue to pop up several times, but it is their deep-rooted childhood friendship that cumulates to the pain. They are expected to know each other much better, and ideally, their relationship should function more smoothly. But in fact, the hurts become so unbearable in such a breakup because some part of “self” is torn apart, missing, or hidden away. The play also extensively explores Lady’s issue with overeating, which both literally and metaphorically denotes her thirst for love.
I’m somewhat uncertain about the play’s audience engagement. This may be partly due to the venue’s layout, as the Royal Stratford East’s high stage could impede the intimacy typically found in smaller studios. This might also be affected by directorial choices (Chinonyerem Odimba). When Lady seemingly greets and interacts with the real audience, we are unsure to respond or not as we hear pre-recorded responses mixing with ours. Although Amayo is undoubtedly engaging, this approach can sometimes lead to confusion.