REVIEW: MAGGOTS by Farah Najib at Lion and Unicorn Theatre 20 Jan – 10 Feb 2024

‘Full of pathos and quiet fury, this play will crawl under your skin and feast on your conscience.’ ★★★★

Anyone who heard the story of Sheila Seleoane in 2022, will struggle to shake it off. She was the woman, aged 61, whose remains were found in a South London block of flats, having been left, undiscovered, unsearched for and unnoticed for almost two years. It was when maggots started to fall through the light fittings and other crevices of neighbours’ flats, the suspicion grew that something was awry. That and the smell of rotting flesh, sweet, like fruit that had gone off. 

Converting such a monstrous and shameful story, one that reflects so dismally on us as a society and community, offers obvious routes to the theatre maker. The verbatim route of actual transcriptions and testimonials, would have been one way. The linear docu-drama route, letting the facts speak for themselves, would have been another. Instead, Maggots beautifully written by Farah Najib and sparingly directed by Jess Barton uses the power of imagination and quiet force of poetic diction to make sense of this tragedy.

The collective skill in Maggots demonstrated by Fight or Flight Productions is that the audience are gently and mindfully transported to a place of unimaginable horror. Anyone who heard the podcast or Radio Four series, would have been struck by how little was known about Sheila Seleone. This hard-working woman who lived alone apparently had no friends, family or interests. Even her digital footprint was scant. But it’s precisely these inexplicable gaps, the ones that can make for a frustrating or perplexing fact-based treatment, that can be so powerfully ignited by theatre.

Three performers Farah Ashraf, Antoinette Harrison and Ross Kernahan (who also produced) multi-role as various narrators, neighbours and authorities. There are a couple of big armchairs, straight from Jackanory, and we are encouraged to snuggle up and listen in. Even as the dark laughs are delivered, even as we get to know the neighbours, a sense of foreboding pervades. In the intimate space of a pub theatre like The Lion & Unicorn, audiences can experience the monstrosity of urban isolation and be permitted to digest the enormity of this tale through imagination, empathy and even humour, which is used like a sweetener, to gently draw audiences to this fearful place and terrible event.

Even taking the Covid pandemic into account, when everyone was expected to stay behind closed doors, Sheila’s story demands space and contemplation. Maggots offers an opportunity to reflect on and mourn the passing of a fellow human. It forces us to examine our own consciences and consider our neighbours more thoughtfully. The underlying provocation of Maggots is it shines a light on our mutual vulnerability and culpability. 

Could we end up like Sheila? Might there be another Sheila living close by? In our overcrowded cities, this tragic tale is probably more common than we would like to think. But this is a must-see play about a must-think-about subject. Full of pathos and quiet fury, Maggots will crawl under your skin and feast on your conscience.

Read our interview with the writer, Farah Najib, and director, Jess Barton,  here

MAGGOTS by Farah Najib at Lion and Unicorn Theatre 20 Jan – 10 Feb 2024

Box Office What's On — LION & UNICORN THEATRE (thelionandunicorntheatre.com)

DIRECTED BY: Jess Barton

PRODUCED BY: FIGHT OR FLIGHT  

ACTORS: Ross Kernahan, Farah Ashraf, Antoinette Harrison

Reviewed by Nilgin Yusuf