Over a decade since Michaela Coel’s original production of Chewing Gum Dreams, Coel masterfully places the bittersweetness that comes with adolescence within a frenzy of harsh realities for 14-year-old Tracey Gordon (Lauryn Ajufo).

The production has been revived for a limited time only at Theatre503 in a debut partnership with the company, tiata fahodzi. Olivier Award-winning director, Anthony Simpson-Pike establishes a soft balance between Tracey’s moments of fragility and confidence. Ajufo as Tracey is utterly convincing with her vivacious take on the protagonist’s personality, breathing new life into a modern coming-of-age story. Using comedic timing to perfection, Ajufo elicits laughter from audiences at every turn. 

We meet various characters played solely by Ajufo, including Candice, Tracey’s best friend, and Aaron, Candice’s toxic partner. Each character takes on a different aspect of the adolescent journey of love, sex, friendships, first crushes and beyond. Despite its witty and rapidly moving humour, Chewing Gum Dreams also blends the experiences many young Black women in their teenage years know only too well: encounters with sexual objectification and harassment. 

The harmony created between Xana’s soundscape and Christopher Nairne’s lighting direction materialises the production’s ability to bring attention to the current failures in our school systems when it comes to the protection of Black youth, and succeeds in recognising the normalised harm our institutions routinely overlook. This perspective leaves a quiet ache for audience members, which gives us no choice but to question the political environment we live in.

Coel’s writing is just as poignant as it was at The Yard Theatre in 2012, and Ajufo brings a new tangy flavour to the stage that simply cannot be missed.

Chewing Gum Dreams is playing at Theatre503 until Saturday 17 October 2026

Creative Team

Writer: Michaela Coel

Director: Anthony Simpson-Pike

Set and Costume Designer: Yimel Zhao

Lighting Designer: Christopher Naime

Sound Designer: Xana

Casting Director: Heather Basten

Movement Director: Theophilus O. Bailey

Voice and Dialect Coach: Aundrea Fudge

Production Team:

Production Manager: Laurel Marks

Stage Director: Tricia Way

Cast

Tracey Gordon: Lauryn Ajufo