Every so often, an audience has the immense privilege of witnessing a production in which every ingredient swirls together to create a magnificent symphony of dramatic flavours. This is exactly what the Bush Theatre audience was treated to with Bush Writers’ Group alum Sophia Griffin’s heart-stopping debut play, After Sunday.
The premise is a deceptively simple one: every Sunday in a secure hospital, occupational therapist Naomi welcomes the same group of men to her Caribbean cooking sessions, hoping that this taste of their shared culture will encourage them to heal and to share. What follows, however, is anything but simple. Griffin weaves these characters together masterfully, unravelling their layers scene by scene; four complex personalities, clashing together and coming apart, each with their own wants, needs, fears and flaws.
As alluded to before, every part of the production meshes spectacularly. Corey Campbell’s direction is as fluid as it is methodical, using such clever kineticism to communicate so much about the characters. Ali Hunter’s lighting design is pitched to perfection; its soft colours wonderfully accentuate the action, never once overpowering the actors. Claire Winfield’s set design transforms the Bush Theatre stage into a secure hospital kitchen, feeling both claustrophobic and like a world in and of itself, where its players may dance around each other. There are so many small details that make the production such an engaging sensory experience, from XANA’s composition to Naomi Thompson’s subtly expressive costume design, even to the theatre being filled with the most mouth-watering smells to bring us into the kitchen with the characters.
Speaking of the characters, it’s impossible to heap enough praise upon every performance within this production. Aimée Powell’s Naomi is the glue that holds the show together, magnificently portraying an optimism, empathy and sense of purpose that slowly peels away to reveal just how much she needs the men who need her. Darrel Bailey gives a sterling performance, playing Daniel, a man whose desperation increasingly reveals more difficult sides to him. David Webber’s turn as the veteran Leroy is breathtaking; the actor’s range, gravitas and vulnerability had the Bush Theatre audience stunned into a palpable emotional stillness. Corey Weekes is a dramatic powerhouse, filling the young Ty with rage, charisma, false bravado, unpredictability and vulnerability that make him shine every time he’s on stage.
At its core, After Sunday is a beautiful play about humanity, about Black characters who find themselves trapped in a system that neglects them outside the hospital and forgets them inside the hospital. Bubbling under the surface of the revelations, the hilarious moments of levity, the music and the pulsating drama is a hopelessness, a slow systemic resignation that each character tries to fight in their own way. Each finds their own people, goals and simple pleasures to cling to just to get to each Sunday, where the community they find in each other can give them one of the most powerful things in life: something to look forward to.
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