Cuttin' It, Young Vic

Charlene James' Cuttin' It premieres with quite the critical clout: it's already won the George Devine Award for Most Promising Playwright and the Alfred Fagon Award for Best New Play of the Year. It will be brought to the stage by rising star director Gbolahan Obeisean, who is the newest talent to begin the Young Vic's Genesis directing fellowship.

Exploring both suffering and strength across a spectrum of different cultural perspectives, the play sheds light on the rituals and realities of Female Genital Mutilation. Focussing on two 25-year-old Somalian school girls and the way in which their different experiences divide them, Cuttin' It has been hailed as a potent presentation of FGM in the UK and beyond.

The trauma of FGM has already been explored on stage, with BAREtruth theatre company's play Little Stitches, which toured London Fringe Venues in summer 2014. As it revealed, this subject may not make for easy watching, but with an estimated 137,000 women in the UK affected by FGM, it is time that we paid attention. This new play promises to further cut away at the secrecy and shame of women's suffering, and the audience's ignorance about the repercussions of such brutal abuse.