Tricycle’s Not Black and White Season

Playwrights Kwame Kwei-Armah, Bola Agbaje and Roy Williams

On the outside Kilburn’s Tricycle Theatre is not much to look at; yet from within this small theatre and cinema complex many a play focusing on the cultural experiences of different ethnic minorities have been played out; and the latest offering, the Not Black and White season is no different.

Not Black and White is a programme of three plays commissioned by Tricycle’s director Nicholas Kent and written by Britain’s most prominent black playwrights; Kwame Kwei-Armah, Roy Williams and Bola Agbaje. Whilst Roy Williams opted for an analysis of prison life and the country’s penal system through Category B, Kwei-Armah reaches into the conflicting world of politics with Seize the Day and finally, immigration is the concept for contemplation in Bola Agbaje’s Detaining Justice; Different lenses that analyse and comment on contemporary British society. The use of the same actors in the 3 plays (Jimmy Akingbola, Aml Ameen and John Boyeda to name but a few) is a clever ploy that instils a sense of continuity.

RoyWilliam’s Category B opened the trilogy on 8th October. Category B is a discussion on prison life with the role of prisoner up for scrutiny just as much as the role of the ‘screws’ (prison guards). Williams, whose other credits include Joe Guy, Fallout and Sing Your Heart Out For The Lads is no stranger to examining racial tension. However, in this piece the institutionalisation of both prisoner and prison guard, alongside the quest for an easy life, again by both prisoners and prison guards, seems to take centre stage; transferring us from a play simply about black men in prison, to a play examining the intricate nature by which both parties play with a power that renders them dependent on each other. The Telegraph, Guardian and Metro have already given the play a 4 star rating, describing it as “hard-hitting and superbly acted”. If these critics are anything to go by, audiences are in for a rare treat: plays that defy the status quo, engage and question.

Kwei-Armah’s Seize the Day is the second play in the trilogy, opening on 22 Oct, followed by Agbaje’s Detaining Justice on 25 Nov. Info and booking details on the Tricycle website

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