• Review For Us
  • List Your Show
  • Advertising
  • Musicals
  • Plays
  • Ballet & Dance
  • Previews
  • First Look
Theatre Weekly
  • Home
  • News
    • West End
    • Off-West End
    • Regional & Tours
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • Digital Theatre
  • Tickets
    • Discounts
    • Musicals
    • Plays
    • Opera
    • Dance
    • Concerts
  • VAULT Festival 2023
    • VAULT Previews
    • VAULT Reviews
  • Contact Us
    • Join us as a Reviewer
No Result
View All Result
Theatre Weekly
  • Home
  • News
    • West End
    • Off-West End
    • Regional & Tours
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • Digital Theatre
  • Tickets
    • Discounts
    • Musicals
    • Plays
    • Opera
    • Dance
    • Concerts
  • VAULT Festival 2023
    • VAULT Previews
    • VAULT Reviews
  • Contact Us
    • Join us as a Reviewer
No Result
View All Result
Theatre Weekly
No Result
View All Result
Home Reviews
Amanda Wilkin in Shedding a Skin credit Helen Murray

Amanda Wilkin in Shedding a Skin credit Helen Murray

Review: Shedding a Skin at Soho Theatre

by Nicola Barrett
March 4, 2022
Reading Time: 4 mins read

Five Star Review from Theatre WeeklySometimes, if you are lucky, you will watch a play, or show, or performance that is utterly perfect. It has the perfect amount of humour and pathos, the perfect amount of relatability mixed with other perspectives, the perfect amount of advice and hope. Shedding a Skin at Soho Theatre is one such play. Written and performed by Amanda Wilkin and directed by Elayce Ismail, this production will have you crying one minute and belly laughing the next.

We follow Myah, newly unemployed, single, and without a place to call her own, the trifecta of societal doom for any young woman. Moving back in with her parents is out of the question, they keep asking her why she quit her job (it’s a long story). She also can’t go back to her privilege ridden ex (or his tiny boat where they were living), so she climbs up fifteen flights of stairs to the cheap single room, rented by an elderly Jamaican women named Mildred. Thus begins an intergenerational and healing friendship between two black women.

Shedding a Skin is a one woman show which Amanda Wilkin performs with deft and expressive ease. Wilkin seamlessly switches from self-conscious Myah, to the stately but somewhat judgy Mildred, to confident Kemi and a plethora of other side characters. There is something particularly vivid and personal about Wilkin’s acting and the character of Myah is incredibly relatable in her hands. One is reminded a little of the TV show Miranda, but Wilkin instills so much more depth into Myah that the comparison seems trite. The audience is left feeling like they have been listening to a close friend tell them about their life and that feeling of connection is exactly the message that Wilkin aims to impart with this play.

       

It’s not just the writing and acting that’s perfect but also the use of staging and lighting that is superb. The set is minimalist and when the play begins there is only a tiny doorway in which Myah stands. However as the plot progresses the stage begins to open up in tandem with Myah opening up to the audience. Whilst still minimal the ambience of the set also changes, becoming warmer and more comforting. It’s all a metaphor and a good one at that. In addition to the immediate plot we are also transported away from Myah’s story and through projection and lighting we are shown snippets of other black and brown people’s lives. These scenes feel dreamy but at the same time significantly palpable.

This play is, first and foremost, about the experiences of black, brown, and immigrant peoples. However there is something universally human in the way that Wilkin’s portrays her characters and her message that connection is a necessary “act of rebellion” is something that we would do well to remember. In a society where hyper individualism is not only encouraged but expected it is not unusual, as a younger generation, to feel adrift in the world. To build connection and community is a radical act against dominant and oppressive ideologies. Shedding a Skin is a must see and there is no wonder it got a resounding standing ovation. 

You mightalso like

Sam Hansford

Sam Hansford appointed in newly created role of Soho Theatre Walthamstow Co-Executive Director

Colossal credit Matt Crockett

Patrick McPherson’s critically acclaimed and award-winning play Colossal coming to Soho Theatre

Shedding a Skin is at Soho Theatre until 26th March 2022.

Shedding a Skin credit Helen Murray

1 of 3
- +
Amanda Wilkin in Shedding a Skin at Soho Theatre. Photo by Helen Murray
Amanda Wilkin in Shedding a Skin at Soho Theatre. Photo by Helen Murray
Amanda Wilkin in Shedding a Skin at Soho Theatre. Photo by Helen Murray
ADVERTISEMENT

1. Amanda Wilkin in Shedding a Skin at Soho Theatre. Photo by Helen Murray

Amanda Wilkin in Shedding a Skin at Soho Theatre. Photo by Helen Murray

2. Amanda Wilkin in Shedding a Skin at Soho Theatre. Photo by Helen Murray

Amanda Wilkin in Shedding a Skin at Soho Theatre. Photo by Helen Murray

3. Amanda Wilkin in Shedding a Skin at Soho Theatre. Photo by Helen Murray

Amanda Wilkin in Shedding a Skin at Soho Theatre. Photo by Helen Murray

       
Nicola Barrett

Nicola Barrett

Nicola Barrett is a writer based in London. A former aspiring thespian she realized that the written word had a greater hold on her than the spoken but she still has a deep love for the theatre, particularly musicals. Nicola has a BA in Fine Art and an MA in Writing For Creative and Professional Practice from Middlesex University.

Related Articles

Sam Hansford
News

Sam Hansford appointed in newly created role of Soho Theatre Walthamstow Co-Executive Director

Colossal credit Matt Crockett
News

Patrick McPherson’s critically acclaimed and award-winning play Colossal coming to Soho Theatre

Welcome Home credit Harry Elletson
First Look

First Look: Welcome Home at Soho Theatre

Madeleine Macmahon in Breathless by Laura Horton Photo credit Dom Moore
News

Breathless (a true life story of the knife-edge of hoarding) to play Soho Theatre

Brown Girls Do It Too Soho Theatre
News

Brown Girls Do It Too returns to Soho Theatre

Rebecca Bantvala Jessica Clarke SAP Edinburgh Fringe courtesy David Monteith Hodge
News

Award-winning Fringe hit SAP announces Soho Theatre run and UK Tour

Comments 3

  1. Pingback: Amanda Wilkin's Shedding a Skin returns to Soho Theatre - Theatre Weekly
  2. Pingback: Soho Theatre To Re-Open With The Premiere Of The Verity Bargate Award Winning Play Shedding A Skin - Theatre Weekly
  3. Pingback: Amanda Wilkin Wins Varity Bargate Award 2020 with Shedding A Skin - Theatre Weekly
Twitter Facebook Youtube Instagram

At Theatre Weekly we give theatre a new audience. You'll find our theatre news, theatre reviews and theatre interviews are written from an audience point of view. Our great value London theatre tickets will get you the best deal for your theatre tickets.
Theatre Weekly, 124 City Road, London EC1V 2NX
  • Join Our Community
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Contact Us
  • Advertising

Recent News

Vault Festival

VAULT Festival celebrates a record breaking year as it closes its doors for the last time in its original home

Ballet Central Announces 2023 Tour

Ballet Central Announces 2023 Tour to 13 Venues Across The UK

© 2022 Theatre Weekly

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Tickets
  • Digital Theatre
  • News
    • West End
    • Off West End
    • Regional & Tours
    • Digital
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • VAULT Festival 2023
    • Vault Previews
    • VAULT Reviews
  • Contact Us
    • Join us as a Reviewer

© 2022 Theatre Weekly