The Westbridge

'Everyone lived perfectly happily round here together before you young ones try to integrate and confuse things.'

The accusation of a Black teenager sparks disturbance on the South London streets. While tensions rise and local rioting starts, a couple from very different backgrounds navigate the minefield between them, their families and their disparate but coexisting neighbourhood.

Joint winner of the 2011 Alfred Fagon award (under its former title SW11), The Westbridge showcases an array of multiple voices. Presenting a microcosm of multicultural society, this depiction of London's melting-pot spans ethnicities, religions, generations and outlooks. A very real, convincing drama of human individuals underpins this ambitious, far-reaching and relevant play.

Picking apart an intricate tangle of cultures, religions and generations, The Westbridge showcases an array of voices from modern society with humour, style and bite.

Auteur

Rachel De-Lahay is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter. Her debut play, The Westbridge, produced at the Royal Court Theatre, went on to win a Writers' Guild award for Best Theatre Play, as well as coming joint first for the Alfred Fagon Award. Her second play, Routes, opened Vicky Featherstone's first season, also at the Royal Court Theatre, and garnered her an Evening Standard Theatre Award for Most Promising Playwright. She was given the Pearson Award to write for Birmingham Rep, where her play Circles won the Catherine Johnson Award from Channel 4. As a screenwriter, her credits include the BAFTA-nominated Kiri (Channel 4); the BAFTA-nominated The Last Hours of Laura K, a multi-platform, 24-hour murder mystery for the BBC; Amazon's The Feed, based on Nick Clark Windo's novel; an episode of the American drama The Eddy for Netflix, to be directed by Damien Chazelle; and the final episode of Noughts & Crosses, based on Malorie Blackman's young adult novel.