"Small Island"  by Andrea Levy, adapted for the stage by Helen Edmundson.

Nottingham Playhouse.

 "Small Island" tells the deeply connected stories of three people against the backdrop of the complex history of the UK and Jamaica. 

Four very human characters bring this Windrush story to life: Hortense and Gilbert, determined Jamaican migrants in search of belonging and respect; Queenie, an Englishwoman who defies convention; and Bernard, her husband, struggling with change.

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 connected stories, hope and humanity meet stubborn reality, tracing the tangled history of Jamaica and Britain.

"Small Island" takes you from the sun-drenched shores of Jamaica to the cold, grey streets of 1940s London.

Mara Allen is Miss Ma, who is married to Philip Roberts, a wealthy Jamaican landowner; Robert is their son. Mara also plays Clara

Mark Arends is Bernard, Queenie’s husband. They live in a big house in Earl’s Court with Bernard’s father, Arthur.

Bronte Barbe is Queenie, the daughter of a Lincolnshire pig farmer but she is desperate to escape the family farm.

Rosemary Boyle is Mrs Ryder. Mrs Ryder is the teacher at the local school in Jamaica. She has come to Jamaica from America with her husband, but he is killed during a hurricane. 

Anna Critchlow is Hortense. Hortense Roberts is born out of wedlock to a wealthy Jamaican landowner and a poor servant. She is brought up by her father’s cousin, Philip Roberts, who doesn't treat her very well. However, she gets on well with his son, Michael, and develops a crush on him. 

Paul Hawkyard is Arthur, Bernard’s father and Queenie’s father-in-law. He suffers from shell shock as a result of his experiences in World War One and now does not speak. Queenie looks after him while Bernard is away fighting in World War Two. There's a scene involving Arthur which completely takes a second to digest, breaking your heart and sent shockwaves, audibly, thorough the auditorium.

Zoe Lambert is Miss Todd and Aunt Dorothy. Miss Todd is Queenie’s neighbor. She is a genteel-looking lady in her sixties. Miss Todd is unhappy with Queenie’s decision to take in Jamaican lodgers and lets her know in no uncertain terms. Dorothy brings Queenie to London to work as an assistant in her shop. However, she is keen for Queenie to marry well and encourages her to date Bernard, despite Queenie’s reservations. 

Jordan Laviniere is Little Michael and the son of Philip Roberts and Miss Ma. He is cheeky and mischievous, and encourages his cousin, Little Hortense, to get into trouble. He is often cruel to her, taunting her with mean words, but he always apologizes.

Rhys Stevenson is Michael who is sent away to boarding school as a child and returns as a confident, educated young man. However, he retains his mischievous, cheeky nature.

Marcia Mantack is Miss Jewel, Hortense's Grandmother. She comes from a poor community in Jamaica. She cares for her granddaughter and takes her to be brought up by the cousin of Hortense’s father, Mr. Roberts, as she knows Hortense will have a better start in life. 

Andre Squire is Elwood, Gilbert’s cousin. He believes strongly in independence for Jamaica and does not understand why Gilbert fought for the British during World War Two and now wants to emigrate to England. He attends independence rallies in Kingston and expresses his opinions freely!

Everal A Walsh is Kenneth and Philip Roberts, a wealthy Jamaican landowner and the cousin of Lovell Roberts. Philip lives with his wife and their son, Michael. They reluctantly agree to bring up Hortense, the illegitimate daughter of Lovell. However, the couple do not treat Hortense kindly. 

Daniel Ward is Gilbert who comes to England when he joins the Royal Air Force during World War Two. He is ambitious and yearns for a better life that he can hope to achieve by staying in Jamaica. During his time in England during the war, Gilbert meets Queenie. 

Toby Webster is Kip and the Young Man In the Sweetshop.

Phil Yarrow is Mr Buxton, Captain Soames and Sergeant Thwaites.

This cast collective fit together like a jigsaw and if anyone were missing, it would be incomplete. An excellent ensemble of talent who between them make you feel the whole gamut of emotion. They make you feel the hope these characters have, and had, as well as the physical and verbal insults made them feel.

What I hadn't expected from this play was the amount of humour, because there is a lot of laughs, balancing out the really sad way that these people were treated. Now, I am normally quite unshockable, but the language in this play did shock me. I heard words and names that I'd not heard for about fifty years, words that I thought that I would never hear again, including the "C" word, and I don't mean the four letter one ending in "T"; No! one that is sickening and used back in the 1970's as an insult to black people. Hearing that word, and another longer "C" word just made me feel sick. there were audible gasps from the audience every time one of these racist terms were used.

Directed by Matthew Xia, he brings to the stage a section of history covering the second world war years and shows a physical timeline of hope and hurt as well as fear, from different quarters of the community which all in the end come together, linked with all four of the main characters in a clever way. 

Set and Costume Design is by Simon Kenny. The set itself is on a turntable on stage which allows a quick, if you'll pardon the pun, turnaround of set and scenes. The second half being very different to the first, but both equally impressive. I love the costume designs and there were at least two suits that I wouldn't mind seeing in my wardrobe!

Sound design is by Adrienne Quartly and lighting is by Ciaran Cunningham. Between them they create a rich and colourful accompaniment to this beautiful, funny and sad piece of theatre.

The Video Designer is Gino Green.

Music Mentor for this play is Ben Kwasi Burrell and the Composer for the music heard is Luke Bacchus.

Anyone with a conscience will feel guilty for the sins of those who came before them in the way that these people who only came to Great Britain in search of a better life, and if everybody's skin were removed, it would show that we are all the same underneath. I personally can not stand any kind of "ism" or phobia, whether that be sexism, homophobia, agism etc. but this has been going on forever. We all just need to be kinder to everyone; a speech from Shakespeare's "Merchant Of Venice" by Shylock also comes to mind, plus a saying that I was taught back in my junior school about " do as you would be done by".

Theatre should be a medium that provides its' customers with something to think about after they have left the theatre; this play certainly does this.

"Small Island " is at the Nottingham Playhouse until Saturday 16 May.

Photography by Pamela Raith.