After Sunday ★★★★★

Imagine life in a medium security hospital where men with violent and unsettling pasts have been brought together to access treatment and rehabilitation. A place where the patients are at risk to themselves as much as they are at risk to their loved ones. After Sunday by debut playwright Sophia Griffin is doing just that in a co-production between London’s Bush Theatre and the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry. Her play promises “funny and affecting…a powerful examination of the intertwining lives of four people fighting for a better future.” But how do you portray the complexity of mental illness with sensitivity and humour?

Aimed at an adult audience, the play follows the journey of three men of Caribbean and/or mixed heritage who are encouraged by their female therapist to open up about their various issues whilst preparing and eating food every other Sunday at her newly formed Caribbean cooking group. She hopes that food will become part of the healing process. Sophia Griffin’s writing skilfully explores the hidden language behind cooking, the stirring up of emotions, the importance of sharing, acknowledging loss, and the real and metaphorical filling of the holes within them. She also draws on their common cultural references of food, music and the importance of family to mend their differences and provide some hope of redemption.

The action takes place in one space with the audience wrapped around three sides of a raised stage. Set designer Claire Winfield has cleverly conjured up the feeling of a tired but clean, well-equipped Activities for Daily Living kitchen with blue lino flooring and carefully labelled kitchen cupboards. In the middle are four workstations with mixing bowls, chopping boards and utensils. There is a working sink and real cooking to enjoy, but we are clearly not in the Bake Off tent. Underneath the stage are labelled boxes, textbooks and files stored by the hospital which are accessed by the characters along the way. The dirty opaque roof suspended above the action gives the audience a real sense of oppressive dilapidation.

This kitchen is where director Corey Campbell (Romeo and Juliet, Big Aunty) has brought four terrific actors to tell After Sunday‘s challenging story. He has been able to draw out believable realisations of each troubled character and has injected pace and movement into the work so that their internal struggles are conveyed to the audience. Aimée Powell (The Lonely Londoners, Family Tree, Nothello) plays Naomi, the well-meaning therapist who is struggling to balance her home and work life. She may be the foil to the other characters’ more humorous lines, but Ms Powell gives a wired, on-edge performance that clearly marks the jeopardy of the situation she is in. Corey Weekes (Grimeboy, Miss Julie) takes the role of Ty, the youngest patient within the group. He finds the comedy within his role, understanding the need to leave room for laughter from the audience, whilst also having the ability to transmit the agony of living with illness and an open-ended incarceration. Darrel Bailey (Storehouse, Shadow and Bone) plays Daniel. He is scotch bonnet hot with pent-up emotion and desire to still be remembered in a good way by his children. He embodies contained desperation and longing, but he also gets to deliver some great light-hearted moments in the kitchen. David Webber (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Small Island) inhabits his character Leroy in such a gentle and expressive manner that the audience totally understands his pivotal role in the group and why he does the things he does. He gives a wonderfully sensitive and thoughtful performance throughout.

Although this play features cookery and some cracking dialogue, it is no mere potboiler. It has a great deal of merit and is an impressive start for Ms Griffin’s stage writing career. The combination of the multi-layered storytelling, intimate setting and strong, nuanced performances by the talented ensemble cast means that this sizzling new play is definitely cooking with gas.