A BRADFORD actor says she's excited to return to the stage in front of a live audience for the first time in more than a year with her own production.

Kafayat Adegoke, who has appeared in a host of TV dramas including the BBC's Years and Years and worked with 12 Years a Slave director Steve McQueen, is set to perform at a legendary venue in a one-woman show she has also written.

Per-So-Na will see Kafayat take to the stage at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre as part of the prestigious venue's Together Season Festival, which runs between May 24 and June 5.

Kafayat's performance will be held at the Crucible on Friday, May 28 from 7.30pm.

She plays Apinke, a not-so-typical Yorùba Nigerian girl who moves to Bradford to escape her homeland and the expectations of how women and girls should behave there.

The confident character vows to go against these stereotypes and the 50-minute-long performance also explores themes including sexuality.

Kafayat has received support from Theatre in the Mill and Bradford Producing Hub on the production which features adult themes and nudity.

She said: "I have not been live with an audience since February 2020 due to the pandemic.

"I love the adrenaline of performing live. It's one take and it has to be right.

I'm looking forward to being live with an audience again. It is my first major live project back after lockdown

"It means everything to be able to do it again. It feels great to be doing it at such a well-known establishment like the Crucible Theatre.

"I love some of the women who have performed there in the past, people like Helena Bonham-Carter and Victoria Wood.

"It's about a girl that finds she is trapped where she lived before, with too many expectations and assumptions.

"There are gender differences, in Africa, girls get it worse. They make ridiculous expectations of what you should be and ought to be.

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: Bradford actor Kafayat Adegoke is set for Crucible show Bradford actor Kafayat Adegoke is set for Crucible show

"Everyone tags you and you almost get disowned. It makes you feel like there is something wrong with you.

"The character I play finds her way to Bradford. Here she can be just another face in the crowd.

"I'm fortunate that Theatre in the Mill in Bradford support me as an artist."

Meanwhile, the actress also revealed her own experiences of lockdown living alone in Bradford, saying she has enjoyed taking time away from busy day-to-day life.

Kafayat has also continued working online during lockdown, with a series of regular shows. These have included Queer Down, a Bradford Council-funded show she presents as her and guests from the arts find ways of how to avoid coronavirus conspiracy theorists which she brands 'Covidiots'.

She also took part in an online video featuring people calling for a fair system for women.

Loud Straws, held last month, responded to International Women's Day’s theme of #ChooseToChallenge in the Bradford district.

Go to sheffieldtheatres.co.uk/events/per-so-na/dates to book tickets for Per-So-Na.