NT: Small Island

Small Island takes a journey from Jamaica to Britain, through the Second World War to 1948 – the year the HMT Empire Windrush docked at Tilbury. The play follows three intricately connected stories. Hortense yearns for a new life away from rural Jamaica, Gilbert dreams of becoming a lawyer, and Queenie longs to escape her Lincolnshire roots. Hope and humanity meet stubborn reality as the play traces the tangled history of Jamaica and the UK.

Andrea Levy’s Orange Prize-winning novel comes to life in an epic new theatre adaptation.  A company of 40 actors take to the stage of the National Theatre in this timely and moving story.