Whimsically, wonderfully poetic one-person show of inside the troubled mind of a heartbroken drug dealer

Written by Martha Watson Allpress, and directed by Emily Aboud, Lady Dealer is a trip inside the head of Charlie (Alexa Davies), an entrepreneur in the line of drug dealing, operating out of a council estate in Peckham. We follow Charlie through the course of a day where life gets on top of her as she processes a recent break up, and deals with a power cut and phones with no battery – in which she muses on her life and the people she brushes shoulders with day to day. 

Despite being a rapid-fire stream of consciousness in the form of a monologue, Lady Dealer’s script is beautifully poetic whilst never feeling shoehorned in, or self congratulatory. 

The rhythm and rhyme in which Charlie waxes lyrical aligns perfectly to her character’s initial happy go lucky attitude. Quick witted and amusing, through both wording and delivery both in the words and the delivery as Charlie pokes fun at herself, her family, her customers and her neighbours. This doesn’t get in the way of when the tone takes darker turns, as Charlie’s existential crisis oscillates. 

To match the captivating script, Charlie is played to perfection by Alexa Willis. Her portrayal of Charlie felt organic. Playing a drug dealer living on a council estate, it might be easy to fall into a cliché accent. Instead, Willis played Charlie with charm, vulnerability, and splashes of darkness at opportune moments. Even with regards to attire, (costume by Jasmine Araujo), Charlie looks like a carefree student who hasn’t emerged from their halls of residence in a week, which endears us to Charlie’s warmth as she discusses her proficient  drug operation. 

Always heartfelt, occasionally heart-wrenching, Lady Dealer is an accomplished piece of punchy storytelling that triumphs in taking us on a journey through the toils of someone struggling to understand her place and purpose in society, and her expectations of herself.