By Charlotte Nicholls & Jessica Arnold
To celebrate the International Day of the Girl the Eastern Chatter team went to see a
performance called Layla’s Room at the Sherman Theatre. A survey was sent out to teenagers
across the UK and the writers of the play brought their voices are brought to life in Layla.
Layla is teenage Londoner who is constantly objectified and picked on by her best friend’s
boyfriend called Joe.
Throughout the performance we learnt a lot about Layla and her plight. The thigh gap, oversexed pop and selfies that are photoshopped – they’re just part of the world she lives in. For a
lot of us at Eastern Chatter, Layla’s Room struck close to home. Most of us have experienced
some sort of unwanted sexual attention that was labelled as ‘Banter’ so we were able to
relate to Layla in a way. They covered some sensitive issues but in an easy to watch and
helpful manner. At the end of the show, we had a little meet the cast session where we spoke
about issues in our community.
We all enjoyed the show and it was a great experience for us. We would like to thank the
Sherman Theatre and Full Circle Education for their
generosity of allowing us to see Layla’s Room and a
massive well done to the cast for doing such a
fabulous show.
In our next edition we will be writing about similar
events we, as girls,
experience. We will
also talk about how
to deal with it and
who to talk to.