Change into your pyjamas, grab a bag of popcorn and get ready to share your secrets. Sleepova by Matilda Feyiṣayọ Ibini is a safe space of erupting energy, girlhood and teenage dreams. In the security of their bedrooms four Black girls gossip, joke and slowly divulge their deepest hidden fears. There is all the clumsiness and wide-eyed excitability of the best coming-of-age dramas even if the play artificially closes things too neatly by the end.
It is 2016 and sickle cell sufferer Shan is celebrating her 16th birthday. Finally, she is about to step into adulthood and transform into her “real self”. With her friends Funmi, Elle and Rey by her side they journey through grief, romance, sickness, parental struggles and sexuality. “You can have sex now, legally,” they scream. Their contrasting experiences and personalities make their chat rupture with squabbles but their childhood bond is indestructible.
