Episode 014: Rockets and Blue Lights by Winsome Pinnock

Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Winsome Pinnock

Welcome to The Play Podcast where we explore the greatest new and classic plays. Each episode we choose a single play, which we talk about it in more depth than you will find in the reviews of any one production. We’ll discuss the play’s origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing.

Winsome Pinnock's powerful new play Rockets and Blue Lights explores the continuing legacy of the slave trade by allowing the lost voices of the past to merge into our current re-examination of history and black identity. The play won the 2019 Alfred Fagon Award and was in preview at the Manchester Royal Exchange earlier in 2020 when the Covid pandemic cruelly closed our theatres. I'm especially honoured during Black History Month to talk with Winsome Pinnock about her wonderful play.