Lyrical and loosely structured, Sam Selvon’s 1956 British Caribbean novel does not readily lend itself to the stage. It is also a tricky proposition to bring his “big city” tale to life in a space as snug as this subterranean venue.
So the power of this production, adapted by Roy Williams and directed by Ebenezer Bamgboye, is all the more startling. Selvon’s sprawling story about Windrush-era arrivals in London is given a small-scale expressionist treatment with a cast of seven sitting across the stage, postcodes flashing up in a glare of lights. The stripping down is counterintuitive but inspired.
