Wretch 32’s sixth album HOME?, released earlier this year, centres on the ideas of place, identity, and belonging. Now, the already emotionally charged record is opened up even wider and poured onto the Olivier stage in this one-off, genre-blending event directed by Clint Dyer. Part concert, part theatre, it unfolds as Wretch (real name Jermaine Scott) bares his soul through heart-laced bars, searching for what the word home truly means.
Entering through the theatre’s audience doors, Wretch rises from within the crowd and steps onto the stage, as if compelled to tell his story. What follows is a full immersion into the complexities of being Black and British. Speeches from figures like Tommy Robinson and Katie Hopkins play out and hang heavy in the air as he asks, “Is this my home or just where I live?” Elsewhere, in the song Nesta Marley, driven by the rhythms of reggae and afrobeats, he yearns to reconnect with his ancestral roots.
