Joy Nesbitt's debut play explores how descendants of slavery and slaveowners confront their shared history through a contemporary Airbnb scenario set against historical events from 1862 South Carolina. The play contrasts the present-day experiences of Talulah, an astrologer and philosophy graduate, who rents a former plantation cabin with those of James Good, whose ancestor owned slaves and fathered children with them. It delves into themes of legacy, complicity, and moral responsibility through sharp dialogue and humor, using strong performances to bridge the gap between past and present.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-09,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
“A plantation Airbnb?” says a character in Joy Nesbitt’s tight, challenging, timezone-hopping debut play about the legacy of slavery, neatly summing up the idea at its core.
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character → say → core
Which is: how, exactly, do we deal with the past?
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we → deal → past
An excellent cast under the direction of Tatenda Shamiso – winner of the Standard’s 2023 Emerging Talent Award – help us over the script’s occasional infelicities.
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cast → help → infelicities
In South Carolina in 1862, just as the Civil War is about to turn, we see enslaved Ginnie (the always-impressive Ronkẹ Adékọluẹ́jọ́) happily accepting the attentions of her “massah” Doc Good (an intense Patrick Vaill).
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Ginnie → turn → massah
If she doesn’t exactly return his “love”, she seems to enjoy their lovemaking and appreciate the favours and the five babies it has brought her.
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it → return → her
Meanwhile in the present day Ginnie’s descendant Talulah has rented her cabin from Good’s heirs, a history lecturer and his pregnant wife uneasily monetising the tainted inheritance of the plantation.
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Talulah → rent → plantation
Herself a philosophy graduate and part-time astrologer, Talulah hopes to summon her ancestor and ask her advice on bringing her own unplanned child into the world.
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Talulah → hop → world
This premise, and this collection of traits in one character, are somewhat hard to swallow but Jodie Campbell brings wry conviction to Talulah’s contradictions.
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Campbell → swallow → contradictions
And besides, don’t we all know someone who’s apparently entirely rational but who also believes in tarot or fairies?
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who → know → tarot
The twist comes when the Goods realise Talulah shares their surname.
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Talulah → come → surname
Indeed, through Doc imposing himself on Ginnie – even if she apparently welcomes his attentions, he holds her life in his hands - they are fifth cousins.
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they → impose → hands
At this point I should say that this play dealing with the endless ramifications of hideous historic wrongs is also very funny.
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play → say → wrongs
In the present day scenes Vaill plays Doc’s five-times great grandson, James, and this jittery academic’s reaction to his consanguinity with Talulah is a treat to watch.
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reaction → play → Talulah
Insisting he’s “not MAGA” he ties himself up in forehead-thumping knots over the idea that she’s secretly seeking reparations.
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she → insist → reparations
Earlier, James has given a slick justification of how his persecuted Irish forebears came to be “landowners… and by proxy slaveowners”.
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forebears → give → proxy
Basically, he suggests it would have been rude of them not to partake in the socio-economic norms of the time.
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it → suggest → time
There’s a hint that mental illness got passed down the Good bloodline, along with everything else.
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illness → ’ → everything
One of her earliest guests in the slave hut immediately threw up, and Amanda joined in as she is a “sympathetic vomiter – also an over-sharer!”
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she → throw → hut
She describes the antebellum era as “complicated” and professes that she was troubled when a “mixed” couple had a Gone With the Wind themed wedding at the plantation.
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couple → describe → plantation
Later, in a chilling scene, Morrish plays Doc’s wife Nora, also pregnant, visiting Ginnie and giving vent to the hatred she feels to Ginnie’s children who work in her house.
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who → play → house
Karene Peter continues Nesbitt’s neat juxtapositions.
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Peter → continue → juxtapositions
In the past scenes she’s the enslaved Bertha, exhorting Ginnie to prepare for emancipation.
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she → ’ → emancipation
In the present she’s Niecey, studying “culinary anthropology” under James and working on events at the plantation.
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she → ’ → plantation
We need it.
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We → need → it
After the strained weakness of the setup, the mid-section of this play bristles with ideas and hard questions.
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section → bristle → ideas
Nesbitt’s writing falters again towards the end before finding a solid resolution.
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writing → falter → resolution
Shamiso’s production is energetic and vivid – there’s a lovely moment where Ginnie and Talulah connect and then lose each other – although slightly marred by the sightlines of designer Natalie Pryce’s skeletal hut.
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Ginnie → ’ → hut
It’s the actors who really make it work.
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it → ’ → ?
Vaill, himself a winner of a 2022 Standard award for his performance in Oklahoma!, exudes barely-contained volatility.
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Vaill → exude → volatility
Campbell, Peter and Morrish give fine, succinct characterisations.
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Campbell → give → characterisations
As culinary anthropologist Niecey might say, there’s plenty of food for thought here, and lots to get your teeth into.
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Niecey → say → teeth
The Aporia
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