Helen Edmundson’s stage adaptation of Small Island streams June 18 as part of National Theatre at Home’s series of NT Live rebroadcasts. The play, based on Andrea Levy’s novel of the same name, weaves together the story of Jamaica and the U.K.'s histories in the mid-20th century.
The stream is available June 18 at 2 PM ET above or on National Theatre’s YouTube. It will remain free to watch on demand through noon ET June 25.
Small Island follows three characters as their stories intertwine. Hortense yearns for a new life away from rural Jamaica as she immigrates to the U.K.; her husband Gilbert dreams of becoming a lawyer but finds his return from the war less than welcoming; and their white landlord Queenie longs to escape her Lincolnshire roots.
The cast of 40 performances includes Leah Harvey Emilia as Hortense, Gershwyn Eustace, Jr. as Gilbert, Aisling Loftus as Queenie, David Fielder as Arthur, Johann Myers as Elwood, Andrew Rothney as Bernard, and CJ Beckford as Michael.
Directed by Rufus Norris, the play was filmed in 2019 at the National Theatre in London. Rounding out the creative team are set and costume designer Katrina Lindsay, projection designer Jon Driscoll, lighting designer Paul Anderson, composer Benjamin Kwasi Burrell, sound designer Ian Dickinson for Autograph, movement director Coral Messam, fight director Kate Waters, music consultant Gary Crosby, dialect coach Hazel Holder, associate set and costume designer Sadeysa Greenaway-Bailey, associate projection designer Gino Ricardo Green, staff director Anna Himali Howard, and associate music director Shiloh Coke.
The Nottingham Playhouse production of The Madness of George III continues streaming through June 18 at noon ET on National Theatre at Home. Upcoming streams include the Gwendoline Christie-led A Midsummer’s Night Dream and Lorraine Hansberry’s Les Blancs.
Previous streams in the series have included the Gillian Anderson-led A Streetcar Named Desire and Frankenstein with Jonny Lee Miller and Benedict Cumberbatch alternating the lead roles.
