HEART
Image credit — Henri T
Heart by Jade Anouka.
Jade Anouka’s Heart is an honest, earnest and quick-witted exploration of matters of the heart. Anouka takes us on a fearless quest to find herself. This monologue threads pieces of Anouka’s real-life journey together with an eclectic soundtrack that isn’t just accompaniment, but the heartbeat of the play.
Heart is a one-woman “poetic play” that combines poetry, prose and rap with musical interludes and a dynamic physical performance from Anouka. Anouka’s comedic timing and stage presence meant that there were moments when Heart felt like a stand-up comedy show or a spoken word recital.
In the play’s prologue, Anouka informs the audience that she doesn’t want to be defined by her “blackness” or her “womanhood”. These are markers of her identity that do not add or take from the play, but are rather just facts of her being. And, so we are instructed not to see the story we are about to hear as a `’black story” or “woman story” but rather just a story. Her story.
The play begins two weeks after her 24th birthday, and we get the impression very early on that Anouka is a true lover. She loves her husband to the extent that she refers to his life as her own, and unsuccessfully tries to help alleviate his depression, characterised as the ominous “beast”. Eventually, a bitter divorce leaves Anouka completely thrown, having lost the centre of her universe and inheriting her husband’s “beast”.
Though struggling at first, we watch Anouka navigate her newfound singlehood, sometimes clumsily and recklessly until she finds her stride.
Midway through the play, Anouka declares that she’s a “hopeless romantic/I fall easily/Just to see/If you’ll catch me.”. This line encapsulates Anouka’s approach to life, as she falls in and out of bad patterns, and Anouka’s life begins to personify the rhythmic stylings of Grace Savage’s score; vibrant and constantly evolving. When she least expects it, she opens her heart up to love again. This love is different, not just because she feels different but also because having thought she was straight, she has fallen head over heels for a woman. We then watch Anouka battle with the harsh reality of being a queer woman in a world that rejects her newfound happiness and by virtue Anouka herself.
In a particularly powerful scene, Anouka comes out to her mother and risks being met with a brutal rejection. Grappling with herself, her family and society’s expectations of her, Anouka finally makes the brave and radical decision to look within herself and in so doing accept who she is, who she loves and not quite conquer her “beast”, but learn not to fear it anymore.
Heart takes on heavy themes headfirst, whilst maintaining a lightness and Anouka’s endearing quirkiness. She is able to address mental health, sexuality, singleness, religion, love and everything you’ll find in the quarter-life crisis feeling that comes with being in lost your 20s.
Richard Owen’s lighting design complements Grace Savage’s score harmoniously. It encases Anouka in soft pinks when she is speaking about her love, or sometimes a violent red when she is fearful. Anouka’s script is brilliant and moves fast. There are times when it feels as though the play moves too fast, and on the contrary, there are also moments that could have lasted slightly longer.
Heart’s title is befitting. In every word, facial expression and even in the silences, Anouka delivers with all her heart. Heart is warm, clever and thought-provoking, and Anouka’s charm and vulnerability will make you root for her.
By Melody Adebisi.
★★★★☆
Heart is showing at Brixton House until 03 February.
