Jocelyn Bioh’s *School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play* has opened on Broadway in a Manhattan Theatre Club production directed by Whitney White. Set in a Ghanaian boarding school in 1986, the comedy-drama uses familiar high-school clique dynamics to examine how cruelty and the desire to escape can be shaped by wider pressures, including poverty and colourism.

The review centres on Paulina, a feared clique leader whose insecurity about her dark skin and impoverished home life fuel her bullying of classmates, especially Nana and her friend Ama. Their pecking order is unsettled when Ericka arrives from America: she is kind, light-skinned and has genuine US fashion and celebrity connections, exposing Paulina’s pretensions. The critic praises Bioh’s handling of the characters’ hurt without excusing their behaviour, as well as White’s direction and the cast.