Fix Up

Kwame Kwei-Armah won the Peggy Ramsay award for his first play, Bitter Herb (1998), which was subseq uently put on by The Bristol Old Vic, where he also became writer-in-residence. He followed this up with the musical Blues Brother, Soul Sister which toured the UK in 2001. He also co-wrote the musica l Big Nose (an adaptation of Cyrano) which was performed at The Belgrade Theatre, Coventry in 1999. Elmina's Kitchen was staged at the Cottesloe Theatre at the National Theatre in 2003 and was publish ed by Methuen.

'What is striking about his richly eloquent new play is that it deals with a subject that has specific racial resonances but a wider application: the sacrifice of historical identity to the insatiable demands of brute commerce.' Michael Billington, The Guardian 'With Fix Up Kwei-Armah is showing signs of greatness. His triumph is to elegantly represent the conflicting elements of Britain's black community through his different characters.' John Nathan, Jewish Chronicle Fix Up 'has glistening dialogue. It has a fascinating, twisting argument about the difficulty for black Britons of retrieving their history from secrets and concealments.' Observer