''Elmina's Kitchen'', first performed in May 2003, is the fifth play from the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.
* British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
actor
An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...
,
playwright
A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just
Readin ...
and
broadcaster,
Kwame Kwei-Armah. Set in a
West Indian
A West Indian is a native or inhabitant of the West Indies (the Antilles and the Lucayan Archipelago). According to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED''), the term ''West Indian'' in 1597 described the indigenous inhabitants of the West In ...
restaurant in London, ''Elmina's Kitchen'' tells a tale of family, drugs and crime on
Hackney's Murder Mile. The play is centred on the character of Deli, the owner of a West Indian restaurant and father to Ashley. Ashley is a misguided teen who cannot help but be seduced by the gangster culture that surrounds him. Deli tries to run a successful restaurant while attempting to keep his son on the straight and narrow particularly when his son gets closer to a well-known local gangster, Digger.
Major productions
On stage productions
''Elmina's Kitchen'' premiered in May 2003 at the
National Theatre,
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, where it ran until 25 August 2003. During its stint at the National Theatre, the play was directed by Angus Jackson and starred
Doña Croll,
Oscar James,
Shaun Parkes and
Don Warrington, all of whom starred in the premiere production. It also featured
Michael Obiora and writer Kwame Kwei-Armah as Deli.
"Elmina's Kitchen"
thisistheatre.com.
Television productions
In June 2005, ''Elmina's Kitchen'' was televised on the UK's BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
. The show took place in authentic settings separating itself from the stage performance. The televised drama featured the cast that initially performed the play at the National Theatre.
Awards
For the National Theatre production Kwame Kwei-Armah won The ''Evening Standard
The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free newspaper, free of charge in London, Engl ...
'' Award for the Most Promising New Playwright of 2003. Kwei-Armah was also shortlisted in the '' Best New Play'' category at the 2004 Laurence Olivier Awards.
References
2003 plays
English plays
Plays about families