Expensive Shit (play and film)

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Expensive Shit is both a 2017 play and a 2020 short film both written and directed by Adura Onashile.

Contents

Production

Expensive Shit was written by Adura Onashile, an English playwright of Nigerian decent [1] who lives in Glasgow, Scotland. [2] It was funded by the Scottish Government's Made in Scotland program and debuted at the 70th Edinburgh Festival Fringe. [1]

Onashile's 2020 film of the play debuted at the BFI London Film festival. [3]

Synopsis

Expensive Shit is a fictional play inspired by real events at The Shimmy Club in Glasgow, which was forced to remove one-way mirrors from its women's toilets. [1] The play protagonist is Nigerian toilet attendant Tolu (played by Sabina Cameron in the play, and by Modupe Adeyeye in the film) working in a fictional Glasgow nightclub. [1] Tolu previously worked as a dancer in Fela Kuti's Shrine nightclub in Lagos. [1] While at work, Tolu is pushed by her manager to encourage two women to sexually expose their breasts in the mirror in nightclub's toilets; unbeknown to the women, male customers are watching via the one-way mirror. [4] Tolu is later forced to choose between harming the women or saving herself from the situation. [2]

Themes in the play include women's liberation and exploitative working conditions. [1]

Critical reception

Expensive Shit was nominated for the BAFTA Scotland 2021 for Best Short Film. [2] It also won the audience and the critics award at the Glasgow International Film Festival, [3] and The Scottish Audience Award and The Jury Award at the 2021 Glasgow Short Film Festival. [5] It was praised by Andrea Arhagba writing in Empire for highlighting gender dynamics in nightclubs. [4]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Nightclub that let men watch women in bathroom inspires Fringe play". www.scotsman.com. 2016-04-30. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  2. 1 2 3 "BBC Film and BFI partner for second season of British film premieres on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  3. 1 2 "Adura Onashile". National Theatre of Scotland. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  4. 1 2 Arhagba, Andrea (28 Oct 2020). "Expensive Shit". Empire. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  5. Festival, Glasgow Short Film (2022-11-23). "Announcing Glasgow Short Film Festival's". Glasgow Short Film Festival. Retrieved 2022-11-23.