Maria Oshodi

Archived work

Chairs – The characters of Old Man and Old Woman stand either side of the Orator dressed in a white has mat suit and wearing a breathing mask facing a bank of degraded chairs on a set of a disused old power station

Performance of Chairs

Plays and dramatic writing
by Maria Oshodi


S Bend

When a young white female plumber allows her trainee male partner to work on a job at the flat of her second generation Nigerian school friend, what could possibly burst up …

S bend - hand drawing of an s bend pipe that divides the faces of two African women and a white young punky woman holding a plunger

scan of the Royal Court Theatre programme

Written in 1983 and performed  as part of the 1984 Royal Court’s Young Writers Festival, directed by David Sulkin

Festival Plays book cover, Maria is one of the three writers photographed on the cover

The S Bend went on to be produced by The Cockpit Theatre in 1985 , directed by Claire Grove, and was later published by Longmans in  1986 in ‘Festival Plays’.


Choices To Chocolate

Against  the backdrop of London’s seeming, hedonistic, alternative fashion and clubbing world of the 1980’s, a group of young  people struggle with what choices Thatcher’s Britain has to offer …

This play received a workshop production at Riverside Studios in 1987,  directed by Kate Harwood

Choc - Group shot of cast of the 80’s including a young Maria smiling.

Blood Sweat and Fears

Ben dreams of being a Chef while working part-time at a gimmicky fast food joint to make ends meet.  He also has a nightmare  in the shape of his  Sickle Cell Anemia that he is trying to conceal    from  the friends  around him and especially his girlfriend, but the pressures of  the work-place are growing and  threatening a big wake up call for him…

This play was written with the support of an Arts Council of England commission  and  directed by David Sulkin and produced as a national tour by Harmony Theatre in 1988.  It was then re-mounted in 1990  by Talawa Theatre, directed by Yvonne Brewster and produced again in 1994 at the Nia Cultural Centre in Manchester, directed by Brian Morgan.

Poster for Blood, Sweat and Fears - the three words over medical tanks that filters the words through a pipe, filling a fast food cup
Cover of Black Plays book

It was published  in 1989 by Methuen in Black Plays 2 and a recording  of the 1990 production is available  through the British library audio archive


Here Comes a Candle

Gina looks like a perfect Black Barbie doll, and makes designer dolls-houses for  exclusive outlets but when she brings into her home a Victorian rag doll from the  North as an   au pair and  a South American  folk doll as a cleaner, play-time is over….

This play, commissioned by Inner City Theatre Company was directed by Paulette Randal and presented at Oval House Theater in 1989.

Text-only Poster for Here Comes a Candle

Mug

Commissioned by Warner Sisters for their Channel 4 She-Plays series, Mug recounts the  intimidation and pressure to react violently within  a group of girls, possibly influenced , or not, by the  boys that surround them…

Televised in 1990, Mug received ‘Pick of the Day’ in the Times.


Hound

When three new recruits arrive at guide dog training camp,   rather than finding Solis in their experience of a shared impairment   , instead they find themselves in a dog eat dog world of the ruthless charity they are at the mercy of…

Poster for Hound. Dog faces the viewer, eyes have been scribbled out
Back of the Hound programme with cast and crew details

Commissioned by Graeae Theatre Company, Hound  was directed by Ewan Marshall and toured nationally in  1992.  It was published in Graeae Plays 1 in 2002.


The Dark

Maria was commissioned as writer by Braunarts for their multi media

Project called The Dark – A sonic physical journey into the pitch dark of a slaver ship, telling the story of Captain John Newton (Amazing Grace), Edward Rushton (founder of the first blind school in England, and Kunle (real West African crew member).

http://www.thedark.net/

The Dark opened in 2004 at the Science museum’s Dana Gallery, before touring extensively throughout Britain – re-touring in 2007 as Dark Heritage in

Commemoration of the bicentenary of the abolition of slavery on British ships.


Resistance

An adaptation by Maria Oshodi of the   autobiography ‘And There Was Light’ by Jacques Lusseyran, the blind teenage leader of a resistance cell in occupied Paris during WWII.  Directed by Eileen Dillon and produced by Extant and Turtle Key, the production toured nationally and internationally to France and Croatia in 2005.

Resistance – A Figure holding his hands up rises up over a wall amidst dark brooding colours of flags and clouds.

A Putney Light Shines

A Heritage Lottery site-specific writing commission by Maria Oshodi produced at St Mary’s Church Putney in 2007 to commemorate the 360th anniversary of Oliver Cromwell’s Putney Debates of 1647.


Buried Alive

In 2009 The Putney Society commissioned Maria Oshodi to write an adaptation of the 1909 novel ‘Buried Alive’ by Arnold Bennett, as an audio dramatic walk through the streets of Putney – It can be downloaded from the Wandsworth local authority website here.


The Hum

Maria was one of four writers commissioned by Flexor and Sandiland in 2017 to create a collection of reflections on urban automated interactions.  Starting as a Brighton Festival installation, The Hum has gone onto tour various UK cities and can be experienced via a mobile app.

More info on the Flexor and Sandiland website here


Publications

Maria Oshodi has contributed to the following publications:


Other

She also has been audio description consultant for the Royal National Theatre for the last ten years.

She was part of the Afro-Cuban inclusive band Besta Vista led by Neville Murray from 2001/2007

Maria and group wave to the camera Coulourfully dressed group perform in front of a vibrant background

And also DJed AKA ‘Blind Bling’ for Attitude is Everything, Liberty Festival and the British Council
Maria at the decks DJing!