Essence at VAULT Festival

Peckham 2020. Laquaya (15 - loves hip-hop, feminism, Peperami) has broken into Elyot’s house. Elyot (32) is reclusive, eccentric and probably quite lonely. He’s making a model boat and listening to Beethoven whilst checking off his life week by week on a chart on the wall.

Watch this slightly odd couple go on a humorous and heart-warming journey from denial to acceptance, overcoming extreme difference and fear of vulnerability to realise that deep down, the essence of each of them make for a perfect match.

Essence explores what it’s like to be lonely, how much it takes to let people in, and how the messy bits of life are ultimately where the gold lies.

After a bit of a break - having a baby (and fighting the patriarchy), Sarah Henley (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Burkas and Bacon Butties, Getting Out, Getting Away) is back at VAULT Festival with this very new play and is joined by director and long term collaborator Tori Allen-Martin (Streets, Boxed, A Splintered Woman).