Bola Agbaje

'Supporters keh. Forget this country. How many year have you lived here...? Your English is better than the Queen's and they still call you...' When Kayode's election campaign for a seat in parliament fails, the Nigerian born MP falls into a pit of depression. Angry and confused, he blames his loss on his ethnicity, despite being beaten by another black candidate. His subsequent remarks to the press force him into hiding. Disgraced and, according to his friend, 'in need of a holiday', he returns to his native Nigeria hoping to escape politics. But here he meets his adopted brother, who is deeply involved in the corrupt politics of his homeland. Kayode's determination to change things emerges with fierce vehemence, as he becomes dangerously involved in a political power struggle. Bola Agbaje's satirical new play questions our notion of home. It examines what it is to be both a British and African citizen, and what happens when corruption in the two nations seems impossible to overcome.

Belong

Roy Williams

Winsome Pinnock

Kwame Kwei-Armah

Mustapha Matura

Jackie Kay

The Methuen Drama Book of Plays by Black British Writers provides an essential anthology of six of the key plays that have shaped the trajectory of British black theatre from the late-1970s to the present day. In doing so it charts the journey from specialist black theatre companies to the mainstream, including West End success, while providing a cultural and racial barometer for Britain during the last forty years. It opens with Mustapha Matura's 1979 play Welcome Home Jacko which in its depiction of a group of young unemployed West Indians was one of the first to explore issues of youth culture, identity and racial and cultural identification. Jackie Kay's Chiaroscuro examines debates about the politics of black, mixed race and lesbian identities in 1980s Britain, and from the 1990s Winsome Pinnock's Talking in Tongues engages with the politics of feminism to explore issues of black women's identity in Britian and Jamaica. From the first decade of the twenty-first century the three plays include Roy Williams' seminal pub-drama Sing Yer Hearts Out for the Lads, exploring racism and identity against the backdrop of the World Cup; Kwame Kwei-Armah's National Theatre play of 2004, Fix Up, about black cultural history and progress in modern Britain, and finally Bola Agbage's terrific 2007 debut, Gone Too Far!, which examines questions of identity and tensions between Africans and Caribbeans living in Britain. Edited by Lynnette Goddard, this important anthology provides an essential introduction to the last forty years of British black theatre.

Welcome Home Jacko, Chiaroscuro, Talking in Tongues, Sing Yer Heart Out ..., Fix Up, Gone Too Far!

The Methuen Drama Book of Plays by Black British Writers

Nigeria, England, America, Jamaica; are you proud of where you're from? Dark skinned, light skinned, afro, weaves, who are your true brothers and sisters? When two brothers from different continents go down the street to buy a pint of milk, they lift the lid on a disunited nation where everyone wants to be an individual but no one wants to stand out from the crowd. A debut work produced at the Royal Court's Young Writers Festival, Gone Too Far! is a comic and astute play about identity, history and culture, portraying a world where respect is always demanded but rarely freely given. Gone Too Far! premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in 2007 where it was awarded the Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre, 2008. It is published here in an abridged form as part of Methuen Drama's Plays For Young People series.

Gone Too Far!

Not Black and White comprises of three new plays which examine the state of modern day Britain from the perspective of three leading black contemporary playwrights. Roy Williams, Kwame Kwei-Armah and Bola Agbaje tackle the prison system, the mayoralty and immigration in their respective plays. Category B: Roy Williams Saul runs a tip-top wing - the screws love him for it, especially Angela. Prisoners follow his rules, and it's all gravy. But Saul's number two position is vacant, new inmates are flooding in, so everyone's feeling the heat. No-one wants to go to Cat B, but the world on the outside is a different story. Seize the Day: Kwame Kwei-Armah Jeremy Charles could be London's first black mayor. He has the face to represent it - a well-spoken, good-looking Londoner, with an appetite for change. He's sold his pitch on reality TV, but can he be the real people's candidate? Detaining Justice: Bola Agbaje Justice is locked in a cold dark cell, his asylum application pending. His sister Grace would like to help, but has been told to leave it in God's hands. Crown Prosecutor Mark Cole has an infallible reputation for successful prosecutions - however he has had a change of heart - and job. His first case is for the defence of Justice - but, in his new role, is Cole the man to help? Published to coincide with the Not Black and White season at the Tricycle, where the three dramas played in rep Oct 8 -Dec 19 2009.

Category B; Seize the Day; Detaining Justice

Not Black and White

The Methuen Drama Book of Plays by Black British Writers provides an essential anthology of six of the key plays that have shaped the trajectory of British black theatre from the late-1970s to the present day. In doing so it charts the journey from specialist black theatre companies to the mainstream, including West End success, while providing a cultural and racial barometer for Britain during the last forty years. It opens with Mustapha Matura's 1979 play Welcome Home Jacko which in its depiction of a group of young unemployed West Indians was one of the first to explore issues of youth culture, identity and racial and cultural identification. Jackie Kay's Chiaroscuro examines debates about the politics of black, mixed race and lesbian identities in 1980s Britain, and from the 1990s Winsome Pinnock's Talking in Tongues engages with the politics of feminism to explore issues of black women's identity in Britain and Jamaica. From the first decade of the twenty-first century the three plays include Roy Williams' seminal pub-drama Sing Yer Hearts Out for the Lads, exploring racism and identity against the backdrop of the World Cup; Kwame Kwei-Armah's National Theatre play of 2004, Fix Up, about black cultural history and progress in modern Britain, and finally Bola Agbage's terrific 2007 debut, Gone Too Far!, which examines questions of identity and tensions between Africans and Caribbeans living in Britain. Edited by Lynnette Goddard, this important anthology provides an essential introduction to the last forty years of British black theatre.

Bola Agbaje

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