Lamesha Ruddock
LEI-LDN is a playful yet pointed interrogation of belonging, and how we navigate the spaces between.
Na-keisha Pebody embodies Chardaye, a young woman forced to move from Leicester to Peckham after her mother kicks her out, and what follows is a coming-of-age story brimming with humour, absolute bangers paired with lit dancing brewing to a deep revelation. LEI-LDN is a vibrant celebration of multitudes and the healing that comes from inhabiting them fully. From the trauma of family fracture to the exhilaration of first London parties, Pebody charts Chardaye’s journey with a rawness that feels both intimate and expansive.
A pink hard-shell suitcase sits downstage centre, clothes are scattered across the floor, and a golden side table holds a framed photo of Chardaye’s father who bears an uncanny resemblance to Bob Marley. Upstage, a white wooden chair. Pebody brilliantly utelises the set as she shifts fluidly between personas: the Gen-Z Leicester girl, the stuttering racist grandmother, the Caribbean Aunt Jemima whose posture alone conveys an entire history. Her physicality and voice work create a kaleidoscope of characters, each one revealing another layer of Chardaye’s disjointed world.
Music and lighting become emotional guides throughout LEI-LDN. A soft spotlight during a Black History Month classroom moment illustrates the suffocating hypervisibility Chardaye endures, which she subverts by offering a history lesson about Britain’s brown babies of WWII. A red wash accompanies Lethal Bizzle, while pink and orange hues glow are paired with Nicki Minaj and Lil Mama. Crowd favourites through a reworking of The Fresh Prince to culturally specific tunes like Foreign Cash shows Pebody’s creativity under Mya Onwugbonu’s direction and pushing her to tap into the knowledge of the audience to build a deeply resonant experience.
What makes LEI-LDN unforgettable is the way Pebody draws the audience into her world. She tasks us with packing her suitcase, a moment that transforms into an act of collective care that she lacks from her mother. We watch her navigate the shocks of London life, from 20p corner shop bags to Peckham aunties hustling braids, to Westfield Stratford yutes and claustrophobic tube rides. Each vignette captures the humour of cultural collision, while never letting us forget the inescapable hypervisibility of a Black woman in public spaces.
The emotional crescendo of the piece comes at Chardaye’s first bashment party, where the need to fit in collapses under the weight of family trauma. The harshness of her father’s words, “eediat,” reverberates through her lexicon, while memories of her mother resurface with devastating clarity. Pebody strips herself of her armour, in a final plea to her mother. After the weaving of voicenotes of a mild-mannered white woman throughout the performance, the truth lands: Chardaye was never allowed to exist as herself.
The cathartic release pulls the audience in as we’re invited to learn the Candy dance, a very kind offer. It’s never too late to learn the Candy; how to do your hair; and find your people.
LEI-LDN is a hilarious, deeply moving and generous piece that refuses to flatten its complexities of Black British girlhood.
You can catch LEI-LDN until Monday 25th at The Green at Pleasance Courtyard from 18:00 (60mins). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Online Box Office.
Image Credit: Lukasz Izdebski
Jasmine Silk
Phoebe Bakker
