Book description
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.. Kwame Kwei-Armah won the Peggy
Ramsay award for his first play, Bitter Herb (1998), and has since had
three plays commissioned and produced by the National Theatre, with the
first, Elmina's Kitchen, winning him the 2004 Evening Standard and
Charles Wintor Awards for Most Promising Playwright, and being nominated
for a Laurence Olivier award for Best New Play 2003. His subsequent
plays for the NT were Fix Up and Statement of Regret.
