Liberian Girl

Every single one of you has been chosen for this great moment, you are revolutionary freedom fighters, changing your future, one day at a time. This is for you, it's all for you and don't you ever forget that!

Set during the early years of the First Liberian Civil War (1989 – 1996), this startling debut play by Diana Nneka Atuona tells the story of fourteen-year-old Martha who flees her country, disguised as a boy, when it's invaded by rebels.

Investigated and cruelly interrogated, she is separated from her grandmother as they attempt to escape the conflict under false identities and, convincing in her boy's apparel, Martha is forced to join the rebels' army. Exposed to the violence of this brutal and seemingly misguided conflict, both as victim and perpetrator, Martha's experience of the First Liberian Civil War is one of excessive cruelty and, in particular, abuse against female prisoners of war.

Liberian Girl received its world premiere at the Royal Court Upstairs, London in December 2014. This second edition was published post-production with some changes to the original script.

“[Atuona] pictures brutality in all its naked mindlessness. With verve . . . she shows how war can erode familiar notions of childhood and humanity.” —Evening Standard

“Atuona's play may be rooted in a particular conflict but in its depiction of how war makes men barbarians, and women and children their slaves, it is timeless.” —Daily Telegraph

“Intelligent, impassioned and devastatingly affecting.” —The Times

“Diana Nneka Atuona's remarkable debut play . . . With extraordinary boldness and range of empathy . . . it offers a joltingly unusual perspective on the recruitment and brutalisation of child soldiers” —Independent