The Lamplighter

Jackie Kay’s writing is as powerful to read as I imagine it to be performed. The characters voices come through very clearly due to the authors authentic and rhythmic writing. The play vividly highlights the plight of a handful of slaves and alongside this brings home the British involvement in the slave trade, and the wider implications of this both past and present. This play absolutely should be used as a teaching aid and I certainly intend to purchase a paper copy.
*Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for allowing me the opportunity to read in exchange for an honest review*

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

- My story is the story of sugar. -

How do you adequately express how raw and sensitive and broken open this piece makes you feel? You can't. You simply let it happen. You simply shout from every rooftop to anyone willing to listen, that this script needs to be consumed in all forms of media. From the devastating truths that the 'Foreword' lays bare to the reader, to the emotions each character is forced to portray, this work proves its necessity. It's a beautiful pain that I want shared the world over because we NEED to talk about our dirty pasts.

Jackie Kay says it best when she said that "there can be no such thing as too many stories about slavery." The way that part of human history is swept under the rug is the reason much of the world is the way it is today. This is a good first step.

The Lamplighter is one of those plays that doesn't need performing to have an impact: just reading through the script allows Kay's words to sing from the page, demanding to be heard. It has an inescapable rhythm that pulls you through, however painful you might find it.

The polyphonic narrative is intense but never disorienting. Kay picks out some vivid, personal scenes amongst the flood of words. I was particularly impressed with the way the characters' words are interwoven with history, in a way that is easy to follow even as we jump about in time and place. It's a poignant reminder of how British cities are bound up with the history of slavery.

The Lamplighter is an immensely powerful piece of writing, at once guttural and poetic.

This play packs a punch. Jackie Kay has created a powerful story that takes you inside the world of the Slave Trade in all of its uncomfortable detail. We see slaves getting captured, their horrific sea voyage, to the markets and finally to the sugar plantations in the West Indies., Kay has opted to tell her story orally rather than visually, which works very well when reading it. She allows the voices of the characters to tell you their stories in their own way which is very impactful as it forces the reader/viewer to create the harrowing images of the slave trade in your own mind. Jackie Kay is using her skills as a poet in full force here as she propels you through the story, effectively pulling you through some heart-wrenching and memorable moments. Her use of dialogue is precise and authentic and I believe everyone should read or see this play, particularly when considering the attention Racism and its history is getting today.

The Lamplighter is a play about slavery and the slave trade first written and produced in 2007 and now published with a new introduction by Kay. It reads like a multi-voiced poem with a chorus and individual stories, as a few characters relate their own and others' experiences as slaves. Interweaved with this are, as Kay discusses in the introduction, details about British involvement in the slave trade and the way in which particular cities, including Glasgow, were deeply involved, and the book ends with a list of further reading to follow up on the stories and the events from the play.

This is a powerful way of both telling specific stories about slavery and getting across a sense of the wider realities of the slave trade, both in terms of human experience and the impact upon everyday things like food (particularly sugar) and cities. The repetition and use of the chorus is particularly effective in replicating voices and getting across scale, and you can almost hear it as you read, and hear parts read in different voices. The emotion really comes across and so does the important educational element, making points about what isn't taught in school curriculums and how the slave trade can't be separated from the growth of British cities and the industrial revolution. Even people who don't typically read plays should pick this one up, as the format allows Kay to tell these different stories in an approachable, moving way.

This play is unbelievable to read on the page. The rhythm of Jackie Kay's writing propels you through the story, through both powerful and heart wrenching moments. Using short snappy, overlapping lines of dialogue, the characters describe their plight as victims of the slave trade. You hear about the horrific treatments they and their children suffered but also, it is highlighted how integral slavery was to the rise of Great Britain.

This is a must read and I will definitely be buying it for people I know. It's an important topic in a less widely read format and it was executed perfectly.

Jackie Kay's "The Lamplighter" takes us on a journey through the dark heart of slavery. It is both a radio and stage play and a multi-layered epic poem.
Reading this I came to the same conclusion as the author, we don't talk about this in British History enough. Told beautifully and poetically, this play is an emotional story told by four women who were held in slavery and what happened to them when they were held. Sold and used like they weren't even people, this play highlights the plight of many through the stories of a few.

The repetition, the harking back to moments in the story and the ending of this story stays with you long after you have read it. These women send a message through the story of the strength and the power these women have to do what they must do to survive and what they would do to make sure they live. The story of Anniwaa threads throughout the play and makes for a stunning conclusion, as we see her story unfold throughout.

British history in school for me was world war one, world war two, actually that's about it, but we never talk about our history of colonialism and how we became the superpower that aligned itself in Europe in the first place. This play for me would be a good place to begin when it comes that history.

This is the text of a radio play written by Kay to explore Britain's part in the slave trade. It examines our complicity in slavery, and the hidden benefits we take for granted, often without understanding where they came from today. It specifically focuses on women's voices, amplifying their situation as mothers whose children are torn from their arms and sold on, and their rapes and use as sex objects as well as workers. It interweaves their experiences with facts and figures from the time that starkly underpin the emotion of the piece. I would love to have heard it as a radio play. The women's voices working like a Greek chorus, the interweaving of their experiences and the soundscapes which create richness and texture to the piece. It's a short piece but it is packed with information that is delivered in such an engaging way you want to know more. It is brilliant that there is a significant bibliography at the back, in case you want to read more. I loved this.

Despite being unfamiliar with reading plays, I found myself fully immersed in this and felt very connected with the characters. The stories drawn from each character are offered with such emotion. The overarching chorus of slave voices, delivers lyrical, lilting storytelling. These personal stories are juxtaposed with Captains Log entries, where loss of slave lives was reported dryly in the same breath as weather conditions. It is impossible to read this without feeling deeply moved.

After reading this play, I searched BBC Sounds to look for the original radio production (no luck sadly) as i would love to hear it performed.

Originally drawn in by the beautiful cover art, this book delivers so much more and will stay with me for a long, long time. It would make a wonderful educational text.

Many thanks to Netgalley and PanMacmillan for the opportunity to review this book.

From these stunning cover artwork to the powerful final lines, this is a phenomenal piece of work. Jackie Kay introduces her play, providing insight into its creation and its relevance throughout the years since its initial release. It is a radio play bringing to life the stories of four women who endure the horrors of slavery in Great Britain. It is richly poetic, at times feeling like a song, with delicate lilts and powerful crescendos. It is also unrelentingly honest in its depiction of a terrifying time in British history. An important piece or work.

This is the text of the radio and stage play , it tells the story of Britain’s responsibility and history in the slave trade, I say responsibility as we are responsible ( I am a British white female) I hear so much how America this or that, Britain is not innocent, Britain is completely and utterly guilty ! This needs to be part of the British curriculum along with proper education of Britain’s history, colonialism, everything empire related in a true teaching. This text/ transcript is powerful in how it delivers its message, it manages to not only educate facts and history, but more importantly conveys the true human cost, the human experience and full emotion. It is a wonderful play and I was disappointed to find you can’t find the audio or video version version anywhere, this needs to be available BBC ! It is a wonderful piece Of art, literature, theatre and one that stays with you long after reading those powerful finishing words.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion