How Jamaica Love Got to the West End

After Jamaica Love triumphed at the West End, Steve Sargeant, the Director of Beck Theatre who is responsible for giving us the opportunity, posted this message on Linked-in:

'Just three weeks ago we put Jamaica Love, written and directed by Mervyn Weir, on sale in the West End and I posted about why that felt important.

On Tuesday 28th November the show played to a Sold-Out Trafalgar Theatre and received a rapturous, jubilant full standing ovation. I have so many reflections on this project that it will take some time to process my thoughts… But for now, here are some headlines.

In my post three weeks ago, I claimed that London’s West End is not a place where diverse British stories are told, and for the most part, I think that’s true. When challenging my peers on the poor representation across the West End, I’m met variously with shrugs and excuses about audiences not wanting to see diverse stories. I have even been told that ‘Black people don’t go to the Theatre’ and ‘diverse communities won’t spend money on Theatre tickets’, statements which are as offensive and illogical as they are manifestly untrue.

Jamaica Love therefore set out to achieve a few things:

Across all of the above aims, I’m pleased to say- ‘mission accomplished’.

But perhaps my most significant reflection on this project relates to trust. I’m extremely fortunate to hold a role in Theatre that affords me a responsibility to ‘gate-keeping’, and over the past couple of years, that concept has started to come much more into focus for me. In order for a Theatre to open up its stage to a show, that show has to demonstrate value- is it a ‘good’ show, will it make money, does it have an audience etc etc and leaders must satisfy themselves that the people and stories they open the gate to are ‘worthy’.

It will come as no surprise to many that I am not Jamaican. I therefore have no real emotional connection to the story of Jamaica Love. I have no lived experience of many of the themes of the show and can only really manage an objective understanding of why it might be an important show for the Caribbean diaspora. As a cultural leader, it would have been incredibly easy to keep the gate closed and choose not to support Jamaica Love.

But instead, I chose to trust:

That trust paid off. And I’m so profoundly grateful to everyone.'