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 Kwame
Kwei-Armah's play Elmina's Kitchen is back in London –
and its appearance in the West End marks an extraordinary watershed,
reports our critic Mark Shenton...
When Kwame Kwei-Armah's Elmina's Kitchen first opened at the National
Theatre two years ago, I called it a "bright and blistering
blast of a play" on these very pages, and called attention
to the fact that the National was finally widening the embrace of
the audience and the artists that it could attract.
"No
special pleading needs to be made for this play: it earns its
right to be in the West End on any terms..."
Mark
Shenton |
While
the play also threw down several provocative gauntlets in its own
right – not least the critical light the playwright shines
on his own community – it now, astonishingly, makes history
of its own.
This
is the first time a contemporary British-born black writer has ever
had a play open in the West End.
It
may be incredible that it has taken quite so long. But no special
pleading needs to be made for this play on any basis: it earns its
right to be there on any terms.
troubled
relationships
Kwei-Armah's
muscular, questioning play packs as powerful a punch as it did before.
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Kwei-Armah is also, in Angus Jackson's production, his own
leading man
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Though
written as a domestic drama that revolves around three generations
of black men as it portrays a man and his troubled relationships
with his own son and father, the playwright also wrestles with bigger
issues of race, identity and criminality.
Kwei-Armah
is also now, in Angus Jackson's production, his own leading man.
It becomes clearer than ever that the character he plays (the café
owner Deli, desperately trying to keep his son out of a life of
crime) is expressing his authorial voice, too.
This
is a vibrant and important piece of theatre, and it deserves to
thrive in the West End.
Elmina's
Kitchen is at the Garrick Theatre, Charing
Cross Road WC2. Tel: 0870 890 1104. Booking to 20 August 2005
Now
add your thoughts by using the form below:
| Your
Comments |
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Emma Wood
I definetly think this...i havent actually seen elmina's kitchen on the stage, but i studied the play for my GCSE'S and i found it just an allround fantastic drama.....and wuld love a chance to see it in action no the west-end stage, i know i would pay to se it and this play shows that our societie sneed dramatic change - a play that could actually change societie for the better..THANKS XX
EMMA wOOD
ema_poppi2005@hotmail.co.uk
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Web
link: Garrick
Theatre (The
BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites)
See
also: our review of Elmina's
Kitchen at the National Theatre
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also: shows you shouldn't miss
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