Rockets and Blue Lights
Published on 19. March 2020
Book
Paperback/Softback
80 pages
978-1-84842-940-6 (ISBN)
Description
'I am the slave ship. Wrecked. Empty. I am a shark, livid with the desire for blood. I am the sea, boiling with fury.'
Amid the gloom of Victorian England, a black sailor, Thomas, prepares to take one last voyage, while an ageing painter, J.M.W. Turner, seeks artistic inspiration in a half-remembered story. In twenty-first-century London, an actress finds herself handcuffed by history - two centuries after abolitionists won her ancestors their freedom.
Winsome Pinnock's astonishing play retells British history through the prism of the slave trade. Fusing fact with fiction, past with present, the powerfully personal with the fiercely political, Rockets and Blue Lights asks who owns our past - and who has the right to tell its stories?
Winner of the 2018 Alfred Fagon Award, the play opened at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, in March 2020, directed by Miranda Cromwell.
'The godmother of Black British playwrights' Guardian
Amid the gloom of Victorian England, a black sailor, Thomas, prepares to take one last voyage, while an ageing painter, J.M.W. Turner, seeks artistic inspiration in a half-remembered story. In twenty-first-century London, an actress finds herself handcuffed by history - two centuries after abolitionists won her ancestors their freedom.
Winsome Pinnock's astonishing play retells British history through the prism of the slave trade. Fusing fact with fiction, past with present, the powerfully personal with the fiercely political, Rockets and Blue Lights asks who owns our past - and who has the right to tell its stories?
Winner of the 2018 Alfred Fagon Award, the play opened at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, in March 2020, directed by Miranda Cromwell.
'The godmother of Black British playwrights' Guardian
Reviews / Votes
'A swirling journey through the light and shade of black history' * Guardian * 'A deep dive into the murky waters of the legacy of Britain's role in the slave trade... The rich depth of Pinnock's writing... It is an ugly truth, but, somehow, Winsome Pinnock has made it beautiful' * The Stage * 'Ambitious and complex... beautifully held together by the poetry and quality of Pinnock's writing... an astonishingly beautiful and emotional coup de theatre... conjures the ghosts of the past and makes them powerful and engrossing in a theatre, here and now' * Whatsonstage * 'Powerful, hard-hitting... urgent and important... also startlingly funny in parts' * Evening Standard * 'Inspirationally ambitious and all-encompassingly humane... Bravo' * Independent *More details
Series
Edition
2020 edition
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 129 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-84842-940-6 (9781848429406)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
New editions
Person
An award-winning playwright, Winsome Pinnock's work has been produced on the British stage and internationally since 1985. She was the first black British female writer to have a play (Leave Taking) produced by the National Theatre.