Kwame Kwei-Armah – författare

Few playwrights have been as successful as Kwame Kwei-Armah atbringing a distinctive new voice and examination of our culture to thestage in recent years. This collection of his work includes his trilogyof plays commissioned and produced by the National Theatre between 2003and 2008, and Let There Be Love, first produced at the Tricycle Theatre, London, in 2008.

Elmina''s Kitchen won him awards for most promising newplaywright and was described as ''a scorching drama about the blackexperience in Britain''s inner cities. . . there is no mistaking its rawpower, humanity and urgent concern'' (Daily Telegraph). Fix Upexplores race and cultural roots and heritage with verve and wit,setting heritage against the inexorable march of time and change. Statement of Regretexplore tensions within the Black community amid changes in the teamleading an influential Black policy think-tank. The final play, Let There Be Love,was presented at the Tricycle Theatre, London, in 2008: ''a smart andpossibly 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..

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.

Few playwrights have been as successful as Kwame Kwei-Armah atbringing a distinctive new voice and examination of our culture to thestage in recent years. This collection of his work includes his trilogyof plays commissioned and produced by the National Theatre between 2003and 2008, and Let There Be Love, first produced at the Tricycle Theatre, London, in 2008.

Elmina''s Kitchen won him awards for most promising newplaywright and was described as ''a scorching drama about the blackexperience in Britain''s inner cities. . . there is no mistaking its rawpower, humanity and urgent concern'' (Daily Telegraph). Fix Upexplores race and cultural roots and heritage with verve and wit,setting heritage against the inexorable march of time and change. Statement of Regretexplore tensions within the Black community amid changes in the teamleading an influential Black policy think-tank. The final play, Let There Be Love,was presented at the Tricycle Theatre, London, in 2008: ''a smart andpossibly 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..

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.