Love Steps: Stars from the West End and Sex Education join forces for new play

West-End star Sharon Rose and Reece Richards from Netflix’s Sex Education have been cast in Love Steps, a new drama fusing poetry, dance and music.

The production has been created by director, writer and poet, Anastasia Osei-Kuffour who is making her playwriting debut.

The production – supported by Talawa Theatre Company – premieres at Omnibus Theatre in Clapham, for three weeks from April 3 to 20, and from May 29 to June 1, at Talawa’s Studio Theatre in Fairfield Halls, Croydon.

The lead role is Anna, and she’s the dream. She is ‘young, gifted and Black’, driven, ambitious and smashing it…but there’s one thing that’s missing. 

The show delves into the societal pressures placed on people to find a significant other and questions whether finding love really defines an identity.

With music genres switching between R&B, Hip Hop and Gospel, audiences will see Anna take her Love Steps and redefine love on her own terms.

Ms Osei-Kuffour said: “When I was younger, I struggled to identify with romantic love represented in mainstream theatre, TV and film. 

“I rarely saw myself reflected in those stories or in stereotypical beauty industry images.

“I wrote Love Steps to counter skewed cultural messages, highlight the turbulent love journeys people experience and hopefully inspire greater understanding for others.

“Drawing on my own experience for inspiration adds an authenticity I hope will move audiences and allow people to see themselves in what is essentially a story with universal relevance.”

Ms Osei-Kuffour is the director of Typical, the critically acclaimed play by Nouveau Riche’s Ryan Calais Cameron which starred Richard Blackwood. She also directs on BBC Radio 4’s Faith, Hope and Glory drama series.

Tickets for the Croydon and Clapham shows can be found here: https://buytickets.at/lovesteps2024/1178845

Pictured top: Reece Richards and Sharon Rose in rehearsals for Love Steps (Picture: Steve Gregson)