'Scene' review: A refreshingly honest and emotional look at the lives of two queer women in an interracial relationship

Scene is a play that doesn’t beat around the bush. It’s an honest and emotional look at the lives of two queer women, Ayo and Flo, in an interracial relationship, and all the difficulties that throws up in a society where black people still experience racism. It addresses prejudice face on, reminding its audience that you don’t have to be a bad person to be racist – we all have biases and prejudices we have to face up to.

We watch Ayo and Flo, two budding actors, struggle with their personal relationship as they try to put on a play about what their interracial relationship is like – at times full of empathy and compassion, at others messy as they grapple to recognise each other’s experiences. In particular, we watch Flo come undone at points as she confronts, and often shies away from, her own privilege as a white person.

Scene was written by Lola Olufemi and Martha Krish, and the authenticity of writers who have experience of their characters’ struggles comes across on stage.

Olufemi described the writing of the play as “collaborative”, and you can see this in all the questions that it throws up and the complexities of both characters. “We spoke amongst ourselves as writers and actors about these topics. Me and Martha, in the process of writing, had versions of the conversations that are in the script. When we had an argument we would put it in – it all felt like good material.”

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This comes across in the dialogue – which is both raw and soft, funny and angry. At moments the relationship between the two women is beautifully tender, at times it is stark and confrontational. “We really wanted to put on a play that we felt like asked people questions that they maybe hadn’t heard before. We wanted it to be a confronting thing,” Olufemi said.

It was refreshing to see a play that made its audience so uncomfortable. Particularly the white people in the room, as theatre is so often written to appease a white audience. Scene was first performed in Cambridge, then went to the Edinburgh Fringe, Brighton, and now London, so it’s seen its fair share of audiences.

Saskia Ross, who plays Ayo, notes that theatre that raises questions about race also draws in a more diverse audience. “It’s so common to feel uncomfortable in a theatrical space especially where we originally did it in Cambridge because Cambridge is so white.”

“It’s really important for me that audience members, especially people of colour and LGBT people, feel comfortable in the space. I’ve done other shows before where black friends have come up to me and been like ‘I was the only black person in that theatre’. This is the kind of show where you can be a black person in the theatre and relax and to an extent feel empowered and have your story told in a different way.”

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Krish agrees: “We were students at Cambridge and we felt like lots of the theatre we saw there didn’t reflect back to the audience to make them think about their own lives.” Her and Olufemi decided to write Scene after noticing that there was a lack of shows that talked about race at the university, and those that did addressed racism from a white persons’ perspective.

“We had all of these ideas and we were like what would it then mean to put all of these conversations about race that happened in different arenas into the sphere of a personal relationship, and how does that complicate the questions we wanted to ask?” Olufemi said.

Krish adds, “What does it mean to confront race with someone that you love? What is that and how do you get round that – do you get round that?”

It’s refreshing to see a play that looks at how racism and homophobia affect the most personal relationships in our lives. As well as the relationship between Ayo and Flo, we also see Flo battle her mum’s homophobia, and the racism of her mum who is much more overtly prejudiced than she is.

As the play so sensitively raises, although discrimination affects every arena of someone’s life, it can sometimes be hardest when we confront it with the people that we love the most. It’s rarely recognised on stage that interpersonal relationships can be cut so deeply by oppression that is structural – and that this doesn’t stop us from loving one another, it just makes that love complicated.

“It’s not so clear cut throughout the whole thing – it complicates it because you’re in a relationship. So what bits are really hurtful because it’s the person that you’re in love with?” Laura Cameron, who plays Flo, says.

After the show, the cast and writers are approached by a couple thanking them for how relatable Scene is. You could see them engaging in the front row throughout, sometimes nodding, sometimes shaking their heads.

Because the play is so accurate and honest, you can clearly see people seeing themselves in it – whether that be in agreement or frustration. “It’s difficult for me at points because I’m not saying the best things, but it’s also really great when someone is there and angry at me,” Cameron says.

One of the most endearing things about Scene is its authenticity – it was easy to believe that Cameron and Ross were partners in real life, even though they weren’t. “One of the important elements was to make the relationship between the two women feel believable and authentic. [Queer women’s relationships’ are] always over-sexualised or very under-sexualised. It’s so rare that you just see two women being in a relationship on a stage so we wanted to make sure that it felt real,” Krish said. It’s one of the reasons the play is so good – it’s not an academic or theoretical take, it’s two ordinary South Londoners and their lived experiences.

Both actors are incredibly convincing in their roles and so human. Their journey feels personal, their relationship something you are invested in – wanting them to work things out but also to both just be happy. It’s tough knowing that maybe these things can’t correlate – but you were also hopeful.

Scene is on at the Camden people’s theatre every day this week until Saturday at 7:15pm. A 2:30pm matinee performance has also just been released on Saturday due to popular demand. You can get tickets here and follow where the play is heading next on Twitter @scenetheplay