Review: Failure Project

Success isn’t singular – BAFTA nominee Yolanda Mercy knows this and wants us to know it too. Written and performed by Mercy, her solo show Failure Project sees Ade navigate a writing career in a white dominated industry while juggling an opinionated family, a somewhat unsatisfying situationship, and a host of anxieties. Questioning failure – its nature, its belonging – Mercy puts Black women’s creativity in the spotlight.

Mercy’s performance of Ade is exacting, measured with a careful intimacy that doesn’t give too much. Hers is a performance which demands our attention. Relentlessly unfaltering, Mercy slips in and out of a cast of characters. A tightly wound script eases each transition and allows each inciting comedic line its deep cut. 

Despite a simple, essentially non-existent set, Mercy renders South London with the warmth only a native can. Lighting is used minimally – a single spotlight, a blue wash, a flashing red – and is all the more affecting for it. Spanning days, perhaps weeks, Mercy’s pacing and sitting, kneeling and dancing, take her across time and space with a subtle grace, both scripted and performed. 

Failure Project is a work to carry with us, hold close. Mercy – like Ade and many other Black women – deserves her flowers, and so much more.