Kwame Kwei-Armah

Deli is trying to revive the fortunes of his mother's restaurant in Murder Mile, Hackney. But where does his son disappear to on the night of the re-opening? And why does his friend Digger offer him protection? Elmina's Kitchen is a thrilling, engaging portrait of a one-parent family struggling to stay within the law while the Yardies are carving up the neighbourhood.

Elmina's Kitchen

Kwaku Mackenzie, founder of a Black policy think-tank, hits the bottle after his father's death. As media interest in the once dynamic Institute fades, his team grows fractious and then, disastrously, favours a young Oxford scholar over his own devastated son. When, in a vain attempt to regain influence, he publicly champions division within the Black community, the consequences are shattering.

Statement of Regret

A collection of audition speeches for male Black, South Asian and Middle Eastern actors, from a broad selection of plays by British and international playwrights.

Audition Speeches for Black, South Asian and Middle Eastern Actors: Monologues for Men

Few playwrights have been as successful as Kwame Kwei-Armah at bringing a distinctive new voice and examination of our culture to the stage in recent years. This collection of his work includes his trilogy of plays commissioned and produced by the National Theatre between 2003 and 2008, and Let There Be Love, first produced at the Tricycle Theatre, London, in 2008. Elmina's Kitchen won him awards for most promising new playwright and was described as 'a scorching drama about the black experience in Britain's inner cities. . . there is no mistaking its raw power, humanity and urgent concern' (Daily Telegraph). Fix Up explores race and cultural roots and heritage with verve and wit, setting heritage against the inexorable march of time and change. Statement of Regret explore tensions within the Black community amid changes in the team leading an influential Black policy think-tank. The final play, Let There Be Love, was presented at the Tricycle Theatre, London, in 2008: 'a smart and possibly noble exploration of what it takes to be human and happy' Evening Standard . The volume is introduced by the author and features a chronology of his work..

Elmina's Kitchen; Fix Up; Statement of Regret; Let There Be Love

Kwei-Armah Plays: 1

Roy Williams

Bola Agbaje

Winsome Pinnock

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

You can't just walk into dis bad man t'ing, you gotta learn the whole science of it. You step into that arena and you better be able to dance wid death til it mek you dizzy. Kwame Kwei-Armah's ground-breaking play about British black male identity and gang culture premiered at the National Theatre in 2003 to unanimous critical praise. It later transferred to the West End, making Kwei-Armah only the second black British playwright to have a play staged there and the winner of the Evening Standard's Most Promising Playwright Award. On Hackney's Murder Mile, Deli is trying to make a living as an honest man and revive the fortunes of his mother's West Indian takeaway. His 19-year-old son Ashley has different plans and longs to follow in the footsteps of family friend and local gangster Digger. As Deli finds himself and his business pulled further into the world he so desperately wants to leave behind questions of family and gang loyalty rise to the surface, leading to a shocking and conflicted conclusion. Elmina's Kitchen is a thrilling, engaging portrait of a one-parent family struggling to stay within the law that takes readers behind the headlines and shows how easy it is to make the wrong choices when you're struggling to survive. Elmina's Kitchen premiered at the National Theatre, London, in May 2003. Methuen Drama's iconic Modern Plays series began in 1959 with the publication of Shelagh Delaney's A Taste of Honey and has grown over six decades to now include more than 1000 plays by some of the best writers from around the world. This new special edition hardback of Elmina's Kitchen was published to celebrate 60 years of Methuen Drama's Modern Plays in 2019, chosen by a public vote and features a brand new foreword by Paterson Joseph.

60 Years of Modern Plays

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.

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

A collection of contemporary plays by award winning playwright Kwame Kwei-Armah, featuring an introduction by the author.

It's Black History month but you wouldn't know it in Tottenham where plans are afoot to turn Kwasi's All Black African Party hotbed into luxury flats, and it looks like Kiyi's 'conscious' bookstore will soon go the same way. And then a beautiful visitor shows up in their midst and life goes from bad to worse. Set against the inexorable march of progress in contemporary London. Fix Up explores race and roots with nerve and wit. Fix Up, Kwame Kwei-Armah's second play for the National Theatre, premiered at the Cottesloe auditorium on 16 December 2004.

Kwame Kwei-Armah

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