Raucous coming-of-age story Shoobs receives its world debut at the prestigious BFI Flare Festival

Conceived to help theatre creatives transition into filmmaking, five writers were asked to explore the question of what makes us who we are.

The answer from Janet Etuk (A Streetcar Named Desire, The Almeida 2025; Princess Essex, Rough Magic, Shakespeare’s Globe; The Box Of Delights, RSC) is new comedy drama, Shoobs, which navigates themes of love, regret and sexuality, all set to a floor-filler original score.

The ultimate modern coming-of-age story, Shoobs is set in the epic mess of a teenage house party in the early noughties in South London. Lisa Jnr, played by Taneetrah Porter, is being advised on how to navigate her feelings for Jada, (Vigs Otite) and Blazer (Bunmi Osadolor) by Janet Etuk’s character Lisa Snr.

With an original wine and grind noughties vibe soundtrack, cheesy dance moves and the heightened emotions of teenagerhood, drama and comedy unfold in this dynamic and fast-paced piece.

Shoobs is directed by Open Sky’s creative director Lisle Turner and results from a collaboration with writer, director and lead actor Janet Etuk. Open Sky is an Arts Council England, National Portfolio Organisation making theatre, film and digital theatre.

They are uniquely placed to support theatre professionals transitioning into screen work. Their first project with this focus was an anthology of short plays filmed and distributed via social media called MicroPlays: Polarity, which won The Digital Culture Awards in 2022.

Writer, actor, producer, Janet says: "Where I grew up in South London as a teenager in the noughties, openly questioning your sexuality was terrifying, inconceivable even. I loved my friends and parties we had but that issue troubled me. I wanted to address it. This film gave me the platform to do that."