Ritika Sharma 
In their first ever co-production, Tamasha theatre company and the ICA present STARS: an Afrofuturist Space Odyssey. The play is based on an older woman who goes into outer space in search of her own orgasm. Created by Alfred Fagon Award 2021 winner and George Devin Award 2022 finalist Mojisola Adebayo, it is directed by Gail Babb and Ama Wray, with animations by artist Candice Purwin, and music mixed by producer and DJ Debo Adebayo.
Set to be moving, funny, and joyful, STARS will be told through one woman and a live DJ with projected animation and creative captions. Presented as a ‘concept album on stage’ STARS is described to transform into a celebratory club night after some of its selected shows on 22 + 29 April, with multiple guest DJs and characters from the show.
Debra Michaels (Strange Fruit, Bush Theatre) will lead the company as Mrs, an older woman who goes into outer space in search of her own orgasm, alongside actor, dancer, and DJ, Bradley Charles (Sylvia, Old Vic) as her son and DJ, Michael Manners. All other characters are played by Debra.
STARS is the latest play by Mojisola Adebayo, whose previous work includes Nothello, Muhammad Ali and Me, I Stand Corrected and Moj Of The Antarctic. A UK tour of her play Family Tree (winner of the Alfred Fagon Award), produced by ATC coincides with STARS.
The idea for STARS was conceived during a writing retreat with Idle Women on a canal boat in Lancashire, where Mojisola first met artist Candice Purwin – who animates the show. Crucial to its development was the support of FORWARD (an African women-led organisation working to end violence against girls and women), with intersex activists including Del LaGrace Volcano and Valentino Vecchietti, and with women in Accrington with whom she shared workshops on the power of pleasure.
We will be reviewing the play so watch out for what we thought of it on 21st April.
For more information and to buy tickets visit: https://ica.art/book/236801
By Nura Arooj
