Adura Onashile is a British actor, playwright, and director. She wrote and directed the 2013 play ''

Expensive Shit ''Expensive Shit'' is the twelfth full-length album by pioneering Afrobeat artist Fela Kuti and his Africa '70 band, released in 1975. It was reissued in 2000 by MCA Records, packaged with Kuti's ''He Miss Road'' (1975) on the same CD. Backgroun ...

'' and adapted it into a film in 2020.

Early life

Onashile is of Nigerian descent and was born in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, England.

Career

Onashile starred in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival play ''Roadkill'' and again at the 2013 Festival in her play ''HeLa'' about

Henrietta Lacks Henrietta Lacks (born Loretta Pleasant; August 1, 1920 – October 4, 1951) Note: Some sources report her birthday as August 2, 1920, vs. August 1, 1920. was an African-American woman whose cancer cells are the source of the HeLa cell line ...

. She has worked with the

National Theatre of Scotland The National Theatre of Scotland, established in 2006, is the national theatre company of Scotland. The company has no theatre building of its own; instead it tours work to theatres, village halls, schools and site-specific locations, both at h ...

The Royal Shakespeare Company The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and produces around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, St ...

, The

Lyceum The lyceum is a category of educational institution defined within the education system of many countries, mainly in Europe. The definition varies among countries; usually it is a type of secondary school. Generally in that type of school the t ...

, The National, and the Young Vic theatres. Her 2013 play ''

'' addresses themes of sexual exploitation and precarious work, drawing inspiration from real life events at

The Shimmy Club The Shimmy Club was a nightclub in Glasgow that operated from 2013 to 2022. The club installed a one-way mirror allowing viewing into the hand washing area of the women's toilets, prompting Glasgow City Council to intervene, forcing the club to ...

in Glasgow, by then her hometown. After ''Expensive Shit'' was made into a short film, it debuted at the BFI London Film Festival in 2020 and was shortlisted for a BAFTA Scotland award for short documentaries. It was praised by Andrea Arhagba writing in ''Empire'' for highlighting gender dynamics in nightclubs. ''Expensive Shit'' won the audience and the critics award at the Glasgow International Film Festival. Her 2021 immersive theatrical production of ''Ghosts'' was created with the National Theatre of Scotland and incorporates augmented reality delivered via app that informs the audience of the history of slavery in Glasgow. In 2022, she produced the film ''

Girl A girl is a young female human, usually a child or an adolescent. When a girl becomes an adult, she is accurately described as a ''woman''. However, the term ''girl'' is also used for other meanings, including ''young woman'',Dictionary.c ...

'', which stars

Déborah Lukumuena Déborah Lukumuena (born 4 December 1994) is a French actress. She is best known for her debut role in the 2016 drama film ''Divines'', for which she won the César Award for Best Supporting Actress. Career In 2017, Déborah Lukumuena won the C ...

. New Europe Film Sales bought the rights to ''Girl'' later the same year. Also in 2022, she started in Liz Lochhead’s

Scots language Scots ( endonym: ''Scots''; gd, Albais, ) is an Anglic language variety in the West Germanic language family, spoken in Scotland and parts of Ulster in the north of Ireland (where the local dialect is known as Ulster Scots). Most commonl ...

production of ''

Medea In Greek mythology, Medea (; grc, Μήδεια, ''Mēdeia'', perhaps implying "planner / schemer") is the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis, a niece of Circe and the granddaughter of the sun god Helios. Medea figures in the myth of Jason an ...

''.

Personal life

As of 2023, Onashile lives in Glasgow.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Onashile, Adura Living people Actors from Glasgow Actors from London Actresses from Glasgow Actresses from London Black British filmmakers British theatre directors British women theatre directors Year of birth missing (living people)