Past and Present: Legacies of Slavery in Kwame Kwei-Armah’s National Theatre Triptych

Abstract

Kwame Kwei-Armah’s (ne Ian Roberts) theatrical career began as an actor in the 1990s when he first became widely known for playing paramedic Finlay Newton in Casualty (BBC 1) from 1999–2004 and for being runner-up on Comic Relief Does Fame Academy (BBC 1) in 2003. Alongside these high-profile television appearances, he was writer-in-residence at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre where he wrote his first play A Bitter Herb (1999; published 2012), although it was not produced until 2001 after productions of his soul musical Hold On (Bristol Old Vic Theatre, 1999; originally titled Blues Brother Soul Sisters) and Big Nose (Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, 1999), which was inspired by Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac (1897). Kwei-Armah came to mainstream public attention with his London debut when Jack Bradley (then literary manager for the National Theatre) invited him to write a play for the National Theatre. Elmina’s Kitchen (2003) was the first of three plays for the Southbank venue, followed by Fix Up (2004) and Statement of Regret (2007), establishing Kwei-Armah’s reputation as an avowedly political black British playwright who, in his own words, writes as a ‘catalyst for debate around themes that are pertinent to our communities and to our nation’ (Anon., Guardian, 12 July 2010).1 Kwei-Armah has been nominated for several awards, including the Laurence Olivier Best New Play (2004) for Elmina’s Kitchen and a BAFTA (British Academy Film and Television Award) for his television adaptation of the play.