Girls at the Young Vic Seats Its Audience on the Stage
Theresa Ikoko's play Girls, about the 2014 Chibok schoolgirl abductions in Nigeria, had its press night at the Young Vic in London on 27 October. The run is scheduled to continue until 21 November 2026, in the theatre's smaller Maria Studio. Brittle Paper describes it as the first major UK revival of the play.
The play follows three girls kidnapped by Boko Haram, the armed group behind the 2014 abductions. Ewa Dina directs, in her debut at the Young Vic. She won the 2026 JMK Award, the theatre's prize for emerging directors, and the play itself is a winner of the Alfred Fagon Award, which honours plays by Black British writers.
The cast is Hannah Akhalu as Tisana, Sewa Zamba as Ruhab and Tara Tijani as Haleema. Raphaé Memon designed the production.
The staging is unusual. Audience chairs are placed directly on the stage, so the people watching sit in the same space as the actors. WhatsOnStage reports that ten TV screens run along the back wall. The show runs for two hours without a break. At the end, the screens show photos of the real girls kidnapped in 2014.
Talawa, the company that champions Black British theatre, first supported the play through its Talawa Firsts programme. WhatsOnStage notes that Talawa's support came before the Young Vic production. Girls is part of the Young Vic's 2026/7 season, which the theatre announced in April.
For anyone planning a visit, the run is short. The show closes on 21 November, so the Maria Studio has about four weeks of performances. Seats on stage mean the audience is part of the set, and the screens at the back mean the final images are the ones people carry out of the room.
