Hannah Akhalu, Tara Tijani and Sewa Zamba will play the three friends in Girls, Theresa Ikoko's award-winning play, in the Young Vic's Maria from 22 October - 21 November 2026.
The Young Vic has cast Girls, which runs in the theatre's Maria studio from 22 October - 21 November 2026, with press night on 27 October at 7pm. Hannah Akhalu plays Tisana, Tara Tijani plays Haleema and Sewa Zamba plays Ruhab.
Akhalu appeared in Cinderella at the Rose Theatre and Every Leaf a Hallelujah at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre. Tijani returns to the Young Vic, where she was in Beauty or Beast? A series of interviews, and has played at Shakespeare's Globe in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Zamba was in Jaja's African Hair Braiding at the Lyric Hammersmith and Shakespeare with Dame Judi Dench at The Mill at Sonning.
Theresa Ikoko's play is set in Nigeria in 2014. Tisana, Haleema and Ruhab are teenage best friends until they are kidnapped by militant insurgents, after which fear and religious difference begin to pull the three apart. The play won the Alfred Fagon Award in 2015 and the George Devine Award in 2016, and was a finalist for the Verity Bargate Award. It was first staged at the HighTide Festival in 2016, in a production shared with Soho Theatre and Talawa.
Ewa Dina directs, making her Young Vic debut with the production that won her the 2026 JMK Award. The award has been given annually since 1997 by the JMK Trust, set up in memory of the director James Menzies-Kitchin; earlier winners include Thea Sharrock, Bijan Sheibani and Roy Alexander Weise.
Ewa Dina said: "I'm thrilled to be working with these three women. Each of them has demonstrated a deep commitment to telling this story with authenticity and nuance. I trust them implicitly to bring their humanity and artistry into the work and can't wait to get into the room!"
The creative team has set and costume design by Raphaé Memon, lighting by Simisola Majekodunmi, composition by féz, sound design by Munotida Chinyanga, movement direction by dkfash and fight and intimacy direction by Haruka Kuroda. Samantha Adams is production dramatherapist and Maddie Bevan costume supervisor, with Carmel Macraee as production manager, Lavinia Serban as stage manager and Shaneice Brown as deputy stage manager.
Performances run Monday to Saturday at 8pm, with matinees on Wednesday and Saturday at 3pm. There is a captioned performance on 12 November at 8pm, a BSL-interpreted performance on 13 November at 8pm and a relaxed performance on 18 November at 3pm.
