The heat rises slowly, and then suddenly reaches boiling point, in Sophia Griffin’s debut play. Set in a secure hospital in Birmingham – walled off from the rest of life – occupational therapist Naomi (Aimée Powell) starts hosting weekly Caribbean cooking classes. Believing in the meditative power of food, she hopes to engage the men with memories of home-cooked meals and maybe even provide a space for difficult conversations to flourish. But, with Ty, Leroy and Daniel’s simmering histories at play, the room can tip into conflict with one wrong step.
Over the course of the sessions, the men’s pasts gradually become less hazy. The youngest, Ty (a witty, bravado-infused performance from Corey Weekes), is desperate to get out and return to prison. Leroy (David Webber) has been on the ward for what feels like for ever and fears leaving as much as he longs for freedom. The newest arrival, Daniel (Darrel Bailey), just wants to get fixed quick and reconnect with his family. Griffin holds back the details of the characters’ offences until just the right moment, letting us get to know them first. When we finally hear snippets of them, it feels like a punch to the skull.
That’s because each of them is shaped into a figure of depth and substance, and Griffin’s play zooms in on what it’s actually like to exist in an environment like this. Banter and tension bubble between the group, and what seem like small things on the surface become monumental – such as the idea of cooking for loved ones on the unit’s friends-and-family day. There are some exceptional performances too, especially from Webber, whose voice wobbles and cracks as Leroy attempts to craft a letter to his estranged daughter.
Breathwork is central to Corey Campbell’s direction, which sees the men reaching violently forward in movement sequences between the scenes. With sound composed by XANA, the potential for full-blown rage hangs thick in the air. We remain hungry to stay with the men at the play’s close, with the final scene feeling unresolved. But Griffin paints a vivid picture of a system in crisis. Driven by Naomi’s impossible battles with the people higher up and a desperate want for things to get better, it stings.
• At Bush theatre, London, until 20 December
