Statement of Regret

Description

Kwaku Mackenzie, founder of a Black policy think tank, hits the bottle after his father's death. As media interest in the once dynamic Institute fades, his team grows fractious and then, disastrously, he favours a young Oxford scholar over his own devastated son. When, in a vain attempt to regain influence, he publicly champions division within the Black community, the consequences are shattering. Kwame Kwei-Armah's third play for the National Theatre opens in November 2007 and takes a punchy, provocative look at the Black British experience and the need, or not, for solidarity.

Kwame Kwei-Armah won the Peggy Ramsay award for his first play, Bitter Herb (1998), which was subsequently put on by The Bristol Old Vic, where he also became writer-in-residence. In 2003 The National Theatre produced the critically acclaimed Elmina's Kitchen for which in 2004 he won The Evening Standard and Charles Wintor Awards for Most Promising Playwright, and was nominated for a Laurence Olivier award for Best New Play 2003. The National Theatre commissioned and produced a second play, Fix Up, in 2005.

I applaud the play for its honesty in tackling abrasive issues * Guardian * Statement of Regret is a sprawling, ambitious and, at times, devastating piece of theatre. It's a slow-burn, revolving its themes early on, before culminating with real passion and verve. * Stage *