It can feel too simplistic to compare works of art created by two very different women. Yet there are striking parallels between Amanda Wilkin’s award-winning new play Shedding A Skin and the stage version of Fleabag. Both are one-woman productions about directionless millennials who use goofy humour as a defence mechanism. Both blend laugh-out-loud jokes with cry-real-tears poignancy. Both debuted at Soho Theatre. Phoebe Waller-Bridge has even heaped praise on Shedding A Skin, describing it as “profound, modern, funny, stark and hopeful”.
“Wilkin’s play follows Myah, a 30-something mixed-race woman struggling to hold down a series of soul-sapping office jobs in London,” says Stylist Loves’ deputy editor Moya Crockett. “Freshly single and panicking about where her life is headed, she sublets a room from a formidable elderly Jamaican woman called Mildred. The result is one of the most beautiful portrayals of intergenerational friendship I’ve ever seen, as Mildred pushes Myah to start living with more courage and conviction. Sharply perceptive about race, gentrification and modern work culture, Shedding A Skin is also genuinely moving and truly joyful. Soho Theatre is releasing new tickets for the play’s sold-out run every day – book yours and say ‘I saw her first’ when Wilkin inevitably becomes as big a star as Waller-Bridge.” Until 17 July; from £19; Soho Theatre, 21 Dean St, London W1D
A fully captioned performance of Shedding A Skin will be streamed online at 7.30pm on 15 July; from £12; sohotheatre.com