by Janice Okoh

A funny and poignant debut play from new Menagerie Associate Writer, Janice Okoh.  As a British-Nigerian family pack their suitcases and prepare to head home for a funeral they realise they will need to get rid of some excess baggage first…a fast, furious and funny new family drama about life in London, death in Lagos and soup on the kitchen table!  Egusi Soup started life with Menagerie in January with reading at Sparks, premiered as a script-in-hand performance at Hotbed in July and in October 2009 embarked on a brand new tour in a co-production with Eastern Angles.

Latest Reviews

The play has all the ingredients it needs to succeed - jealousy, regret, deceit, pathos and humour. Add to that a subtle flavour of religion and superstition and you have a very fine egusi soup - a Nigerian culinary speciality that gives the piece its title.

Carol Twinch, BBC Suffolk Online, click here to read the whole review

 

…the best performances come from the three women. From her first entrance, high-heeled and business-suited, Karlina Grace offers us both the brittle shell that is the outward Anne and the desperate unhappiness within it. Quieter in her troubles but no less intense is Gracy Goldman as her sister, an acceptor of what life throws at her until she reaches her own point of no return. Taiwo Ajai-Lycett is the matriarch, a woman who can blend acceptance of what cannot be changed, not to mention possessing a shrewd sense of proper priorities, with an apparent country simplicity which annoys her daughters just as much as she enjoys displaying it. It’s a bravura performance which anchors the play. And the soup of the title? That really is revealed to have a very special flavour.

Anne Morley-Priestman, What’s On Stage, click here for the full review

Tour Dates

Thursday 8th & Friday 9th October 7.45pm
Sir John Mills Theatre
Gatacre Road
Ipswich
Suffolk
IP1 2LQ
01473 211498
www.easternangles.co.uk

Saturday 10th October 7.30pm
Luton Hat Factory
The Hat Factory  
65 - 67 Bute Street
Luton  
LU1 2EY
01582 878100
www.thehatfactory.org

Monday 12th October 7.30pm
Samuel Ward Arts
& Technology College
Chalkstone Way
Haverhill
Suffolk
CB9 OLD
01440 714140
www.haverhillartscentre.co.uk

Tuesday 13th October 7.30pm
Brightlingsea Community Centre
Lower Park Road
Brightlingsea
Essex
CO7 0LG
01473 211498
www.easternangles.co.uk

Wednesday 14th October  7.30pm
Seagull Theatre
Morton Road
Lowestoft
Suffolk
NR33 0JH
01473 211498 or 01502 589726
www.easternangles.co.uk

Thursday 15th October  7.30pm
Key Theatre Studio
Embankment Road
Peterborough
Cambridgeshire
PE1 1EF
01733 207239
www.peterboroughkeytheatre.co.uk

Saturday 17th October  7.30pm
Sheringham Little Theatre
2 Station Road
Sheringham
Norfolk
NR26 8RE
01263 822347
www.sheringhamlittletheatre.com