Review: Ifunanya, Peckham Fringe

‘Ifunanya’ is an Igbo word meaning ‘I see you in my eye’ or ‘love leads the way’ or ‘love inspires’.

The writer of Ifunanya at Theatre Peckham, Temisanren Uwawah, who I met briefly prior to the performance, is a thoughtful and passionate individual. He’s brought this play from a two-minute exploration in December 2024, to a thought-provoking and reflective 70-minute piece. In discussing with Uwawah what he hoped the audience would take from this experience, he spoke eloquently about the need to be asking more questions, to seek understanding and to question why each of us is as we are; ultimately to generate conversations and promote empathy and acceptance of differences. In our global world with turbulent relationships or situationships, Uwawah challenges our perceptions of what is right and the role of blindly adhering to tradition versus conscious life choices.

This is a two hander, with Ayo Adegun as Nnamdi and Amaka Whitney as Funmi, playing characters from different cultures, exploring how their relationship might progress. There are many layers to the play, exploring the impact on our adult behaviour of cultural heritage, both in the home and from geographical influences. The audience play their part in their cheers, exclamations and sighs as dialogue resonates with their lived experiences of love, laughter and of course the frustration of navigating expectations and communication styles in a relationship.

In developing their roles, Uwawah has deliberately chosen actors for whom the culture they depict is unfamiliar: Adegun is Yoruba but playing Nnamdi who is Igbo. Similarly, Whitney is Igbo yet Funmi is Yoruba. This requires each actor to learn beyond their own identity and to seek to understand a different culture with diverse expressions, behaviours and expectations.

Uwawah nurtures his characters, encouraging them to boldly explore their understanding of what ‘doing things the right way’ really means for each of them. His fundamental question is ‘does time move with tradition, or must tradition move with time?’In this multi-layered dance between a couple who share Nigerian ancestry their differences emerge – not just in being Yoruba and Igbo, but also in their ability to trust one another, express vulnerabilities and seek mutually agreeable solutions.

The simple staging of a sofa between two stools allows fluidity of movement as the actors move between scenes, times, places and emotions. Good use of voiceovers and quotes evokes times long past, even replaying parts of the script to denote earlier times in this courtship. And music transfers the audience smoothly through each scene; although occasionally the background music is a little too loud, particularly for Whitney, who appears to struggle to project her voice sufficiently despite the small, well laid out venue. By contrast, Adegun is stronger and more believable as Nnamdi; embodying his physicality and struggling with communication; both believable and evoking compassion.

There are times when the production feels a little stilted, as though still in rehearsal, lacking conviction and pace. Towards the end there is a sense of the play ceasing rather than finishing, leaving the audience wondering, which is no bad thing.

There may be work to come on this production, but I echo the sentiments of Toby Clarke (Director at ALT Productions) when he says “Uwawah has a really bright future ahead of him”. Uwawah has so much depth and passion, he will continue to cause audiences to enjoy, evaluate and evolve.

Written by: Temisanren Uwawah
Directed by: Isabel Steuble-Johnson
Produced by: Lucie Lutte
Co-Produced by: Temisanren Uwawah
Sound Design by: Nevison Kusokora
Lighting Design by: Jahmiko Marshall
Technical Stage Manager: Atlanta Sonson-Chapman
Stage Manager: Kemi Kentebe

Ifunanya plays as part of Peckham Fringe until Wednesday 14 May.