Hortense yearns for a new life away from rural Jamaica, Gilbert dreams of becoming a lawyer, and Queenie longs to escape her Lincolnshire roots.
In these three intimately connected stories, hope and humanity meet stubborn reality, tracing the tangled history of Jamaica and Britain.
The playwright, Helen Edmundson, called working with Levy 'a joy and a privilege', saying: Like her books, she was uncompromising and funny, wise and honest.
[3]Following the success of the 2019 run, the production was scheduled to return to the Olivier Theatre from in October 2020, however has since been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
[11] Matt Wolf of The New York Times and The Arts Desk described the production as the 'complete theatrical experience', and praised the play as 'Sweeping when needed but also touchingly intimate'.
It has a grand epic sweep but also a surprising intimacy on the vast Olivier stage that made a vocal, refreshingly diverse audience really respond to it'.