An Òran Mór production, coming to the CatStrand during the Dumfries and Galloway Arts Festival, has just received a five-star review from a national newspaper.
Voices from the Black that I am, part of the celebrated Glasgow venue’s Play, a Pie and a Pint programme and supported by the National Theatre of Scotland, was hailed as “illuminating, challenging and profound” by Mary Brennan who gave the production top marks in this week’s Herald Scotland.
Click here to view the review.
The ground-breaking lunchtime theatre programme visits the New Galloway venue with reflections on the drama of one of the world’s most celebrated Jamaican playwrights.
This is an exciting opportunity to see and hear four quality actors reflecting on the themes of Karl O’Brian Williams’ outstanding award-winning play, The Black That I Am.
Featuring the monologues of Katrina Beckford, Tunji Lucas, Linden Walcott-Burton and Angela Wynter, Voices from the Black That I Am is a theatrical meditation of questions on issues of blackness, gender, sexuality and nationalism. It is the personal journey of a black Caribbean immigrant navigating foreign territory. Underlying each monologue is Sankofa: the Ghanaian philosophy of looking back to go forward.
The event takes place at The CatStrand, New Galloway, on Sunday, 18 May, and will take the form of Òran Mór’s popular lunchtime programme of watching a play while enjoying a pint and a pie in an informal, relaxed and cheerful setting.
New York-based Karl O’Brian Williams started writing plays while studying at the University of the West Indies.
Since then his work has been featured in the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission’s Performance Festival, Tallahwah Theatre Competition, Kingston on the Edge Arts Festival, and the National Black Theatre Festival in North Carolina. Plays produced: Jamaica and Off-Off Broadway: The Black That I Am, Random and Not About Eve.
His list of impressive awards include Best New Jamaican Play for 2005 The Black That I Am, and 2006 Not About Eve. In 2013 he received three AUDELCO Award nominations for Excellence in Black Theatre for Best Playwright, Outstanding Ensemble and Best Dramatic Production.
Hailed by The Scotsman as ‘One of the most magical theatre initiatives of the last decade’, A Play, A Pie and a Pint is a collaboration with The National Theatres of Scotland and has been presented to audiences across the world’s stages. The project produces the work of many of Scotland’s best known writers, as well as presenting the work of new young playwrights and comes to Dumfries and Galloway as part of a special tour.
The event is part of Dumfries and Galloway Arts Festival’s core programme and takes place at 7.30pm.
Tickets from the Midsteeple Box Office, Dumfries, tel: 01387 253383 or from The CatStrand, New Galloway, tel: 01644 420374.
