The Yard Theatre are thrilled to announce new dates for the world premiere of An unfinished man by Dipo Baruwa-Etti following its postponement due to the pandemic. Directed by Taio Lawson the production will now run from 12 February to 12 March 2022 with Press Night on 17 February.

The full cast and creative team will be announced shortly.

Kayode hasn’t had a job for seven years. He has been cursed by a spirit from back home in Nigeria –

(Can’t we juss name it? – Ur depressed.)

He needs to get help –

(Therapy won’t undo the spell, Kayode.)

His marriage is suffering –

(I need ya help ta stage an intervention.)

His mother thinks she knows what to do.

(The Lord told me and I went to Pastor Matanmi.)

Can Kayode be cured?

Juju exists, spirits battle and the witches and wizards of Lagos chant loudly in East London.

Dipo Baruwa-Etti is a filmmaker, playwright, and poet. As a playwright, Dipo was the 2020 Channel 4 Playwright on attachment with the Almeida Theatre and shortlisted for the George Devine ‘Most Promising Playwright’ award that same year. His plays include The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars (Theatre Royal Stratford East) and he is published by Faber & Faber. For screen, he wrote and directed the award-winning The Last Days, a BFI Network/BBC/Tannahill Productions short film and has original projects in development with companies including Blueprint Pictures and Duck Soup Films. As a poet, he has been published in The Good Journal, Ink Sweat & Tears, Amaryllis, and had his work showcased nationwide as part of End Hunger UK’s touring exhibition on food insecurity.

Taio Lawson is currently the Associate Director of Kiln Theatre. His Directing credits include NW Stories (Kiln Theatre), HOME Digital (Young Vic), Hang (Sheffield Crucible), Love and Information (LAMDA), Macbeth (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland), White Devil (East 15), Home – Installation (Young Vic), How To Make Love To A Muslim Without Freaking Out (Rehearsed Reading, Bush Theatre), Face in a Jar (St Paul’s Furzedown Church/Rhoda McGaw Theatre), What We Are, 90’s Kid (ETC Theatre), Gutted ‘n’ Battered (UK/International Tour) and Sexy Buff Ting (Cockpit Theatre). Taio was Resident Director at Sheffield Theatres where he collaborated on: Love and Information, Frost/Nixon, The Wizard of Oz and Desire Under The Elms.

As Assistant Director credits include Life of Galileo, Sizwe Banzi Is Dead (Young Vic) Oil, They Drink It in the Congo (Almeida Theatre), Octagon (Arcola Theatre) and Perseverance Drive (Bush Theatre).

Taio is also a patron for COMMON which is a non-profit arts organisation that exists to support the theatre industry in achieving greater socio-economic diversity, and make theatre more accessible to the working class, whether they be artists, audiences, or communities.