Superhoe

Life’s not going great for Sasha Clayton. Her time as the queen bee of secondary school is over, she’s living in her parents’ house and her boyfriend has stopped answering the phone. As she dreams of getting her first EP off the ground, the days slip by in a haze of weed smoke and spiky exchanges with her family.

Directed by Jade Lewis, Nicole Lecky’s debut play – which she performs and sings in as well – is equal parts brutally funny and brutally sad.

It starts with Sasha in her childish bedroom flipping between self-assured singing and firing insults down the stairs. She’s brilliantly sweary and outrageous. The set up is initially similar to Anoushka Warden’s debut play My Mum’s a Twat, which played in the same space last year. It shares the frank humour and the undercurrent of intense pain. But Superhoe goes in a different direction.

Forced to move out when her family relocate, Sasha is befriended by an Insta-celeb who takes her in and finds her work. On the social media surface her life looks as if it;s all champagne and jet-setting, but in reality it’s sex work and fake friends.

Unlike the perfect selfie, Lecky’s play has its flaws. But she’s such a likeable, talented and empathetic performer, none of them really matter. While it’s one woman’s story, there are many Sashas. For a story of loneliness, isolation and entrapment, Superhoe is also beautiful and hopeful.

Superhoe’s Nicole Lecky and Jade Lewis: ‘There are really exciting changes going on. What’s next?’