Papatango Announces BBC Radio 4 Broadcast of AFTER INDEPENDENCE

Following a critically acclaimed run at the Arcola Theatre in May 2016, Papatango today announces that May Sumbwanyambe's award-winning play After Independence is to be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 22 May. George Turvey directs the original cast of Stefan Adegbola (Charles), Sandra Duncan (Kathleen), Peter Guinness (Guy) and Beatriz Romilly (Chipo) for the radio production. For After Independence May Sumbwanyambe won the Alfred Fagon Audience Award for plays staged between September 2015 and August 2016.

Sumbwanyambe was the first Papatango Resident Playwright, and wrote After Independence as part of this commission. Applications for the 2017-2018 Resident Playwright Scheme will be open from 22 May - 1 June 2017. It is free to enter and open to any resident of the UK and Ireland.

After Independence is an unflinching examination of land ownership, dispossession and justice in the postcolonial world. It is inspired by real events in Zimbabwe in the late 1990s, when white-owned farms began to be forcibly seized by thousands of war veterans dissatisfied by their corrupt government and desperate for change.

Africa is changing. Country by country, step by step. But for Guy and Kathleen, life on their ranch goes on, just as it has since their ancestors first claimed this land. Until a man from the new government arrives with a smile and a purchase order - but there's more than just land at stake. Charles will do whatever it takes to restore The Farm to the 'native' population.

A game of cat and mouse, claim and counter-claim, begins, with the heritage of an entire nation to play for. As truths are revealed and moralities questioned, can things ever be more than simply black and white?

May Sumbwanyambe was born in Edinburgh a year after his parents immigrated to the UK from Zambia. His mother is of the Bemba tribe of the Copperbelt and his father is of the Lozi tribe of the Western Province. Their wider family is split across Zambia, South Africa and Zimbabwe - where After Independence is set. His grandfather was an elecTed Mayor in Zambia and an advocate for the independence of all African nations, and his father was in the government of the first elected President of Zambia.

Sumbwanyambe was chosen, from 220 anonymous applicants, to be Papatango's first Resident Playwright supported by the BBC. Since completing his Residency with Papatango, he has been commissioned by National Theatre Scotland, BBC Radio Four and Scottish Opera.

George Turvey directs. He is the Artistic Director and co-founder of Papatango Theatre Company. He has appeared as an actor on stage and screen throughout the UK and internationally, including the world première of Arthur Miller's No Villain (Old Red Lion Theatre/Trafalgar Studios), the role of Batman in Batman Live World Arena Tour, Peter Gill's The Importance of Being Earnest and Tamara Harvey's Romeo and Juliet. His directing credits include Leopoldville (Papatango at the Tristan Bates Theatre), and Angel (Papatango at the Pleasance Islington and the Tristan Bates Theatre). As a dramaturg he has overseen and developed each of Papatango's shows.

Papatango is a charity who discover and champion new playwrights by running open application schemes and opportunities, all free to enter and assessed anonymously. As well as the annual Papatango New Writing Prize, the UK's most popular annual playwriting competition that uniquely guarantees its winner a production, publication, and follow-up commission, Papatango offers an annual Resident Playwright scheme, taking an emerging playwright through commissioning and development of a new play. Papatango also runs an extensive programme of free playwriting workshops for children and adults in London, Bristol, Bedford and Liverpool. This trained over 1000 budding writers in 2016. All writers submitting scripts to Papatango receive full feedback for free.

http://papatango.co.uk/