takes us on a journey through the dark heart of slavery. Produced both as a radio and stage play, it also reads as a stirring and a multi-layered poem. Four women and one man tell the story of their lives through slavery, from the fort, to the slave ship, through the middle passage, following life on the plantations, charting the growth of the British city and the industrial revolution. The Lamplighter focuses on parts of history other books rarely touch upon, revealing the devastating human cost of slavery for individual people. Constance has had to witness the sale of her own child; Mary has been beaten to an inch of her life; Black Harriot has had to become a high class whore; and our lead, the Lamplighter was sold twice into slavery from the ports in Bristol. All four very different voices tell their story, in a rousing chorus that speaks to the experiences of all those oppressed by the slave trade, lifting in the end to a soaring and rally conclusion.
Radical and widely acclaimed when it was first staged, this ground-breaking play from one of our most beloved poets and writers, Jackie Kay, remains as urgent and daring to this day.
First commissioned and broadcast by the BBC the text of Jackie Kay's extraordinary drama is presented here for a wide readership and with an introduction by the author.
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The noise of the sea slapping against the walls of Cape Coast Castle. The sound of many different African languages, talking fast, scared. SCENE 1, INTERIOR FORT
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(@panmacmillan, 6 August 2020, 112 pages, ebook, copy from the publisher via # NetGalley and voluntarily reviewed)
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I'm a fan of Jackie Kay. I've read all of her books so I had high hopes for this play. The standard and quality is exactly as I've come to expect from the author. I've read a few plays. A play by its nature is much better to see performed by I enjoy reading them and can easily visualise everything in my head. I loved the four voices in The Lamplighter. Their stories were incredibly sad and reduced me to tears at time. The stories of the slaves are all similar and equally terrible; sold, passed between Slave Masters, treated like animals, beaten and raped if you're unlucky enough to be a woman. I really loved this.