Mustapha Matura – författare

"The most perceptive and humane of Black dramatists writing in Britain" (New Statesman) Mustapha Matura's farcical, fictional coup, set in an independent Trinidad and Tobago, swings with the fluid language and magical lyricism of the Caribbean and explores the chimerical quality of nationhood where foreign money overpowers dreams.

A collection by a leading playwright of the '70s and '80s As Time Goes By, Matura's first play is a satirical comedy of manners set among first-generation immigrants and won the George Devine and John Whiting awards. Nice (1973) is a deeply ironic monologue by a recent immigrant commenting on his experience of the hypocrisy of British officialdom; Play Mas (1974) recreates the impact of the heady political momentum generated by the People's National Movement in Trinidad in the early fifties and won the Evening Standard Most Promising Playwright Award. Independence (1979) is set in Trinidad in the pool bar of the Grand Hotel and charts that country's troubled move towards self-governance "Matura's fascinating play is a searching and moving examination of a political problem" (Nicholas de Jongh, Guardian); Welcome Home Jacko (1979) is a "very funny expose of Rasta righteousness and absurdity with superbly animated argument. Touching, serious and funny" (Michael Coveney, Financial Times); Meetings, set in independent Trinidad (1982) is "a sardonic social satire which gradually grows darker and darker until it becomes a nightmare vision, something close to an apoclypse.The journey is as nimble as it is comic. Mr Matura is a gifted playwright." (Mel Gussow, New York Times)."What makes Mustapha Matura our finest dramatist of West Indian origin? A wry humour, warmth of feeling, a knack of observing human oddity and for embodying it in quirky, unpredictable dialogue, and the fundamental seriousness with which he writes of people who, like himself, have in some sesne become severed from their roots. He ranges from the usefully mischievous to the wickedly funny." (Benedict Nightingale, The Times)

"Matura's play not only offers a potted guide to Trinidadian ethnicity, economics and politics, but also a potent metaphor for the post-colonial process. It is also very funny ... the real power of Matura's play lies in its reminder, under all that surface exuberance, that the movement towards independence carried its own element of fancy-dress masquerade." The Guardian1950s Port of Spain. Samuel, a young tailor’s assistant, dreams of Trinidad’s independence.On the eve of carnival everyone fills the streets, dressed up to play mas. This annual celebration turns to tragedy and spurs Samuel on to make a decision that will change the political landscape of the future of this vibrant, volatile island.Play Mas premiered at the Royal Court in 1974, winning the Evening Standard Award for Best Play, and transferred to the West End. Described as a wickedly funny, exuberant and poignant play, it is published in Methuen Drama's Modern Classics series for the first time, with a brand new introduction by Paulette Randall.

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.

Boy, wen we come ter power we go change dis whole island, upside down, we go make all dem people who was taking advantage a we, suffer, we go make dem bawl. 1950s Port of Spain. Samuel, a young tailor’s assistant, dreams of Trinidad’s independence. On the eve of carnival everyone fills the streets, dressed up to play mas. This annual celebration turns to tragedy and spurs Samuel on to make a decision that will change the political landscape of the future of this vibrant, volatile island.A wickedly funny, exuberant and poignant play from Mustapha Matura. Born in Trinidad, he is the multi-award-winning writer of numerous plays including Rum an' Coca-Cola, Playboy of the West Indies and The Coup. Play Mas premiered at the Royal Court in 1974, winning the Evening Standard Award for Best Play, and transferred to the West End. This edition was published to coincide with its first major revival at the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond, which opened on 11 March 2015.