THE SOHO THEATRE – UNTIL 14th JUNE 2025
REVIEWED BY JACKIE THORNTON
4****
Yolanda Mercy writes, co-directs and solo-performs this absorbing, revealing and highly emotive dive into what it takes to succeed not just as a writer of stage and screen, but a female writer and a female writer of colour.
The burden of responsibility weighs heavy on protagonist Ade, whose debut play Day Girl, about her experiences as a scholarship kid at an elite school, wins her acclaim and commissions but also pigeon holes her. She’s the role model now and doesn’t want ‘people like her’ to think their dreams are unattainable.
Yolanda is a compelling storyteller and confidently bounces off the audience to bring us into Ade’s world, inviting our sisterly support as well as our indignation at the micro-aggressions and casual racism and classicism doled out by society. Even more impactful is the heartbreaking way she subtly denigrates herself too. Don’t do yourself down, Ade!
Yolanda is also a wonderful mimic, effortlessly embodying the quirks of her hilarious supporting cast. From the posho tv producers trying to be hip but coming across as painfully clueless, to her situationship hook up, who seems happy to point out how easy she has it as a ‘socialite’ while failing to mention a few vital details about his own life, to her blunt yet caring Nigerian mother and her influencer friends from ends.
This is very much a show about finding your place in a world that seems intent on rejecting you and moulding you into a version of yourself you no longer recognise. Even if you’re a 40-something audience member like myself, allowing the Gen Y and Z references to go over my head and googling “slay” after the show, there’s still plenty of humour to be found and above all, a well-crafted narrative that with a few tweaks could be sensational.
Yolanda is surely a rising star with a magnificent career ahead of her. A powerful, funny and moving tale of perceived failure and recovery in an unforgiving world.