Pray For Me is a raw, intimate and visually striking solo performance by Sarah Adedeji, exploring Christianity through the eyes of a Black Deaf woman navigating faith, culture and identity.
Blending poetry, movement, dance and music, the show interrogates the painful and complex experience of being perceived as “in need of healing” within church spaces. Through personal storytelling and embodied expression, Sarah examines how Deafness is framed within Christian belief, and how Nigerian heritage, British culture and faith intersect, clash and coexist.
Originally commissioned by Surface Area and previously performed at Alphabetti Theatre, Pray For Me has been further developed under Fuse Theatre’s Lighting the Fuse initiative, which champions bold new Deaf-led work. Directed by Harry Jardine with movement direction by Chris Fonseca, the piece centres Deaf experience not as something to be fixed, but as something powerful, political and deeply human.
At once confronting and cathartic, Pray For Me asks urgent questions about access, belief and self-worth - and ultimately reclaims space for Deaf voices within stories of faith.
Tobi King Bakare and this theatre deserve a shout-out for such a young, diverse audience. There is so much talk about audiences being full of over 60s and why, why can’t theatres get the crowds in to reflect society in general? Well, I’m happy to say that on a rainy Thursday evening, the theatre was completely full.
Caiti Grove on Before I Go in CPT's Spring 2023 season London Theatre Reviews
