A coming-of-age drama, a critique of colonialism, a piano gig and a love story – Anoushka Lucas packs a lot into her wittily probing one-hour solo show. A singer-songwriter who found that huge early praise and promise don’t always translate into success, Lucas reinvented herself as a riveting stage actress, and will reprise her stunning lead role in Oklahoma! when it transfers from the Young Vic to the West End next year. Meanwhile, here, she proves herself a hugely promising writer too.
Her first play – she previously penned a short response to George Floyd’s murder for the Bush in 2020 – surely draws inspiration from her own upbringing, and the knockbacks and humiliations she suffered in the music industry. Lucas plays Lylah, a working-class girl of French, English, Cameroonian and Indian heritage, who passes among the upper-middle class thanks to musical talent, pushy parents, and an education at a London Lycee then Oxford.
