Small Fish - a play
First performed in 2021, written by Ben Timi Nuga, directed by Ben Timi Nuga and Sanjana Samaddar.
I wrote Small Fish, my first play, in October 2020. It was inspired by difficult experiences shared by me and my friends during secondary school - a period where being a victim of discrimination was to be forced between choosing to act unaffected, or to respond and face the social consequences.
First performed in 2021, Small Fish is a loose fit into the ‘dark comedy’ genre. The play centres around the stories of students Matthew, Ishtar, Gael, Harriet and Tolu, the play was written as a demonstration of how social rules and dynamics, often out of our control, can have such a defining effect on school life.
Secondary school life can be very difficult to navigate, especially for students who differ from their peers. The competitive nature of the school environment often leads to judgement and unkind treatment towards those seen as outcasts.
Small Fish explores marginalisation and its consequences in a surrealist, intimate and absurd way - mixing naturalistic scenes with dance sequences, sharply contrasting humour with tragedy, and alternative endings to keep the audience on their feet.
