Ballet Black: Shadows review

“Finds the sweet spot”

ReviewsMar 17, 2025by Siobhan MurphyHackney Empire, London

Isabela Coracy and the company of My Sister, The Serial Killer at Hackney Empire, London. Photo: ASH

Double bill of new work includes a riotous adaptation of a bestselling thriller

Ballet Black’s founder Cassa Pancho rarely makes pieces for the company, but couldn’t resist the idea of adapting Oyinkan Braithwaite’s dark 2018 thriller My Sister, the Serial Killer for the stage herself. And she’s made a great job of paring back Braithwaite’s Lagos-set tale of two sisters – conscientious nurse Korede (Isabela Coracy) and beautiful, psychopathic Ayoola (Helga Paris-Morales).

We meet them in the middle of their latest clean-up operation, after another of Ayoola’s admirers has met a sticky end, and tag along as the well-paced narrative shows us what happens when Ayoola catches the eye of the dashing hospital doctor that Korede had her heart set on. With the sisters’ back story and a lot of characters excised here (including their mother), it’s hard to discern just why Korede would keep helping her murderous sibling. But the fact that she’s struggling with the decisions she has made is powerfully depicted through the ranks of hooded ghosts that repeatedly surround her.

Pancho finds the sweet spot between knowing dark humour and straight-up horror chills, Coracy is excellent as the elder sister battling demons and her own desires, Paris-Morales is clearly having fun as the petulant narcissist Ayoola, and Ebony Thomas’ doctor gives impressive support.
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The other new work in this double bill is a fitting companion piece, if not quite as engaging. A Shadow Work is by the American choreographer Chanel DaSilva, inspired by her own experience of therapy. It takes its name from the Jungian idea that we need to acknowledge our “shadow selves” – all the aspects of our personality that we’ve been taught to repress – to become fully ourselves. And so Taraja Hudson, all in white, grapples with a group of 10 shadows, in black, led by Acaoã de Castro.

Cristina Spinei’s score keeps things brooding and ominous, with the occasional burst of stabby giallo-style synths. It’s asking a lot of a non-verbal art form to represent the talking cure, and it’s a little heavy-handed to have Hudson presented with a cardboard box to “unpack”. Small vignettes suggest past memories of family break-up, and possibly versions of womanhood she’s had to reject, but it’s all a bit hazy. However, Hudson is a beautiful dancer to watch, and her ability to project emotion is ably demonstrated as she cycles through the peaks and troughs of her therapy “journey”. And there’s some sinously suggestive group work from her surrounding shadows, circling and confronting her as she tries to work towards acceptance.

For full touring dates, please visit the Ballet Black website

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Production Details

Production nameBallet Black: Shadows

VenueHackney Empire

LocationLondon, then touring till July 3

Starts13/03/2025

Ends15/03/2025

Press night15/03/2025

Running time2hrs

CreatorCassa Pancho

ComposerFela Kuti, Tom Harrold, Cristina Spinei, Toots & the Maytals

DirectorCassa Pancho, Chanel DaSilva

ChoreographerCassa Pancho, Chanel DaSilva

Set designerRichard Bolton

Costume designerNatalie Pryce, Jessica Cabassa

Lighting designerDavid Plater

Cast includesEbony Thomas, Isabela Coracy, Taraja Hudson, Helga Paris-Morales, Acaoã de Castro, Megan Chiu, Bhungane Mehlomakulu, Elijah Peterkin, Mikayla Isaacs, Ruby Runham, Love Kotiya

Stage managerTina Dézart

ProducerBallet Black