Sap

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Her counterpart, Rebecca Banatvala, effectively multi-roles as every other character, most notably the girlfriend and ‘the guy’. She is able to produce such distinctive characters with only minor changes in body language and voice. The characters are likeable too, people we are familiar with, these aren’t archetypes, making it all the more sinister as the story progresses. They’re toxic in their own way, the script able to understand the nuance and subtlety of being able to use a lie to maintain power, without coming across as a villain from the beginning. The two work incredibly well together, whilst Banatvala plays the supporting role, her presence commands so much attention.

How many men?" asks Daphne's girlfriend. An accusation more than a query, one many bisexual women have heard when they're entering a same-sex relationship. Rafaella Marcus pinpoints the eternal bisexual struggle in Sap , which has come to London after a starry sell-out run at Edinburgh Fringe last year. She explores prejudice and stereotype, fetishisation and biphobia through a precise commentary wrapped into a viscerally poetic tale. When Daphne lies by omission, she accidentally and nonconsensually enters a dark, twisted game.RAFAELLA MARCUS’ DEBUT DRAMA TAKES AN ANCIENT STORY AND MAKES IT BOX FRESH’ – Lyn Gardner, The Stage A modern tale of coercion and abuse at the expense of a bisexual woman echoes the ancient myth of Apollo and Daphne.

I have accidentally built this lifeline of writing so it’s something that I am able to take into other mediums within a creative industry. I work other jobs so I can exist in this industry, where there are not enough jobs for the number of people who want to be in it, essentially. Director Jessica Lazar places the audience in traverse, allowing Jessica Clark’s Daphne to narrate to one half of the audience, then turn to deliver a wry aside to the other. Her character navigates her attraction to a man she meets at a work, then to a woman she describes as a “goddess” at a lesbian bar – both played by Rebecca Banatvala. In each case, Clark’s delivery shows us a woman who is as confident in her sexuality as she is insecure about her attractiveness to other people. Jessica Clark plays this Daphne with a frantic edge – the character’s need to please makes words catapult out of her before she has time to think them through. Clark also does a remarkable job of finding light and shade in a text that is dense but has might. Centring on the experiences of bisexual women, who are significantly more likely than heterosexual and lesbian women to be abused by their partner, it blends the past with the reality of the present. Peppered with artful what-could-have-been moments and self-aware sides, this mammoth story is squeezed skilfully into 70 minutes – and for the most part, it drives. The originality in Marcus’ exploration of bisexuality is fantastically complex. It centres on the experience of bisexual women and the fact that they are more likely to be abused by their partner than heterosexual or lesbian women – come the end, this is a fact that the play is open about starting an enlightening discussion on. Jessica Lazar’s luminous direction allows plenty of room for the performers to transform their bodies, and our imaginations”Rafaella Marcus’ Sap is loosely based on the myth of Daphne and Apollo; the show centres around Daphne, a bisexual woman living in the contemporary world. Daphne meets a guy she describes as ‘exactly what you think of when you think of just a guy’, and they have a one-night stand. She then meets and falls in love with a woman and fails to tell her about her sexuality due to the opinions the woman possesses about bisexuality. There’s more to the story than this, but I’m leaving it at that, so as not to spoil the plot. Work as associate director includes: Emilia (Vaudeville Theatre), Fury (Guildhall) for Nicole Charles; The Cause (Jermyn Street Theatre) for Andrew Shepherd. While more and more plays dealing with LGBTQ+-specific issues are being commissioned and staged, Sap is rare in explicitly dealing with bisexuality and the prejudice many bi people face from within the rest of the queer community. That it does so with such engaging, occasionally distressing grace and humanity is just one part of its charm. Marcus has crafted a play which speaks on many levels, and is effective on each.

The name ‘Daphne’ comes from the nymph in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, who, hotly pursued by Apollo, turns into a tree. In Sap, the silent lie takes root in Daphne’s subconscious and psyche until she too starts to turn into a tree with “bark like eczema.” As her relationship develops, the lie grows, and the stakes rise. The conceptual basis of this narrative also brings to mind the prose works of South Korean author, Han Kang. The Fruit of My Woman and The Vegetarian, tell of a young woman who, as a way to cope with a hostile environment and patriarchy, transforms into a plant. The arboreal language used in Sap to describe the growth of the tree that takes hold of Daphne’s body is poetic and entrancing. Work as Assistant Director includes: Pericles (Shakespeare’s Globe), Romeo and Juliet, The Wind in the Willows (Chester Performs), Boeing Boeing, Afterplay, Love Your Soldiers, The Winter’s Tale (Sheffield Theatres), and The Killing of Sister George (Arts Theatre).At the end of the performance, the actors were presented with a Lustrum Award given by Summerhall’s founder and owner Robert MacDowell to shows he particularly admires across the Edinburgh Festivals. A contemporary fast-paced thriller with ancient roots, SAP is directed by Offie-nominated Jessica Lazar (Anna Bella Eema, Arcola Theatre; Outlying Islands, King’s Head Theatre; Dangerous Giant Animals, Edinburgh Fringe/United Solo Fest New York/Park Theatre). This debut play by Rafaella Marcus is a queer urban fable about bisexuality and what we allow people to believe. Writer Rafaella Marcus comments, Seeing the reception to SAP's Edinburgh run was one of the most moving experiences of my life, and I'm thrilled that we now get to bring the show to audiences across the UK. The opportunity to tour and share ideas nationally is an essential part of our cultural lives and I'm grateful to every venue that has opened their space to this strange, mythic play. I can't wait to share the extraordinary talent of our cast and creative team in new theatres, with new people, and I hope anyone who needs to sit with the play's story of liberation, power, and transformation will be able to do so.

Breffni Holahan in Collapsible by Margaret Perry at the Edinburgh fringe in 2013. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/the Guardian Similarly, her bisexuality, which is arguably the catalyst to further problems, is a fight between her natural and taught instincts. Her attraction to men is almost an animalistic urge, as opposed to women, a softer, more comforting love. She jokes about going out for ‘ladies night’, when her friends say she can’t decide that beforehand, otherwise that would make sexuality a choice. The way she describes her attraction is notably less eloquent than other moments- its chatty and familiar. Whilst it makes sense to her, it’s confusing to be able to express it outwardly. She’s not a scholar, she’s just trying to tell us what she feels in a way language cannot. Maybe if she was able to, the rest of the story wouldn’t happen. We’ll never know. Rafaella Marcus is a 2021 MGCFutures bursary winner and JMK Award finalist. Her work as a writer & director focuses on new writing and bringing to the stage marginalised voices, especially women. She is currently developing new self-penned play Sap, and writing new audio drama for Big Finish TBA.

Booking & Dates

After being awarded a Stage Edinburgh Award for her performance, Jessica Clark (Versailles, BBC2/ Canal+; The Wife of Willesden, Kiln Theatre; Rotterdam, Trafalgar Studios) will return for the Soho Theatre run and UK Tour of contemporary fast-paced thriller SAP. Clark stars alongside Rebecca Banatvala (Much Ado About Nothing, RSC; The Princess Switch 3, Netflix; The Syndicate, BBC).