Review: GIRLS at Young Vic

In April of 2014, 276 teenage girls were abducted at gunpoint by the Islamist group Boko Haram from Chibok secondary school in Borno State, North-Eastern Nigeria. They were living their ordinary village lives, discussing boys, emulating Beyoncé and preparing for their exams. In the midst of chaos many families lost sons who were butchered on the spot and daughters who were kidnapped and forced into servitude as a direct belief that Western Education is evil and should be forbidden to females and its sinister influence eradicated.

Three such girls Ruhab (Sewa Zamba), Haleema (Tara Tijani) and Tisana (Hannah Akhalu) go about their daily routine, initially daring to hope they will be rescued or will find an opportunity to escape. Gradually as time passes, their individual outlooks change. Ruhab is married to a gang member for whom she develops feelings, (more a case of determined pragmatism than Stockholm Syndrome) eventually falling pregnant with his child. The others are torn between leaving her behind and attempting to escape, or enduring their fate until they too are forced into unwanted marriages.

In reality, many of the victims who were able to flee, found themselves already pregnant and consequently isolated by their own communities which rejected them. And despite the Nigerian government’s partial success during release negotiations, an estimated 80-90 young women remain in captivity a dozen years after the horrific incident which spawned copycat attacks across the nation, resulting in the decimation of Nigeria’s education system.

Directed by Ewa Dina, who is herself Nigerian born, the production boasts wholly charming and engaging performances from the three actors and in particular Tara Tijani whose clarity of delivery and comic timing as Haleema belied the seriousness and danger of the situation faced by the young women and made them entirely relatable.

While GIRLS may struggle to set awards season alight, there is rock solid and meaningful work here, underpinned by an earnestness to keep alive the #BringBackOurGirls movement which first drew global attention to the plight of the victims.

GIRLS continues at the Young Vic until 21st November and runs nearly 2 hours without interval.

Girls Tickets