Debbie Tucker Green’s trade is certainly an acquired glass of Pina Colada, and if you’re looking to kick back in your deck-chair and bask in a sunny atmosphere of laughs, this is not the play for you; which is just as well, as this is the point that Hannah Calascione’s noir and compelling adaptation of trade so effectively gets across.

Trade looks at the female sex tourism from a Caribbean perspective, to shed light on the sex industry as a whole. The premise centres around the question of what kind of ‘tourism’ the island’s tourists are really engaging in, as voiced by a confrontational local woman, and posed to two English holidaymakers. 

The play itself tackles some thorny feminist issues: whether a prostitute can really have autonomy, the vicious stigma attached to prostitution not only by others but by the women themselves, and whether love is possible in such a brutal trade. There is no doubt that the play brings to light contentious matters with a dark comedic twist, but it is not the script that creates the appeal, but rather the quality of the acting.

Diamond Abdulrahim, as the sassy, cynical, world-weary local woman gives a cracking performance, whether she is berating the other women with her unrelenting slut-shaming, or slipping in snide innuendos, giving the play a much-needed comedic boost. Lola Olufemi is equally strong as the punchy, loud-mouthed Londoner, who pulls off the mixture of defiance and sarcasm perfectly. Toyosi Adeniyi also softens trade’s sharp edges with her sympathetic performance, displaying just the right amount of vulnerability, despite her character’s slight superiority complex.

The set, too, is effective, with everything from the sandy stage to the hideously naff and seedy ‘I-have-a-big-banana-plant’ touristy soundtrack to create that authentic feel of the tacky island resort. 

It was not the acting or the scenery, then, that makes the two other potential stars out five out of the question, as there can be no doubt that the adaptation was superb; the play's very nature can leave the audience feeling all at sea. There was little action in the play, which is perhaps ironic given the topic, and it is completely composed of dialogue, with character development favoured over that of plot. This dialogue, though admittedly fast and witty, is styled by layer upon layer of interruptions and repetitions, which can become very wearing, and also made the beginning slow and hard to understand.  

While trade may have been more of the dark and less of the comedy of the dark comedy genre, it was nevertheless worth the trip.