I do not recall seeing a play specifically about the Windrush Scandal but this subject has inspired Sir Lenny Henry to write his first play. He performs his engaging monologue at the Bush Theatre which, under the artistic directorship of Lynette Linton, is proving a reliably exciting venue for new plays.  Starting his career in comedy, Sir Lenny has impressed with acting performances in Othello and August Wilson’s Fences.  

HMS Windrush was one of the first ships bringing people from the Caribbean to live and work in England from 1948.  The issue, more than 50 years later, was that their children had often travelled on their parents’ passports and after a lifetime of living and working in Britain were accused of being illegal immigrants.  Their jobs were forfeit and they were made homeless and sent to detention centres, and threatened with deportation to the West Indies where they knew no-one.  For most it was a very frightening experience.

Lenny Henry’s play is centred around August Chamberlain Henderson, played by himself, who aged eight, travels from Jamaica to England with his mother Tallulah to join his father Hubert.  In Peckham, Hubert is ensconced with a woman, a red head with red lips, white skin and freckles but Tallulah soon sees off the other woman.  They move to the Midlands and August switches from a Jamaican accent to the Black Country one of Dudley.  Here August finds a devotion to West Bromwich Albion the local football team.  

At school in Dudley, August is initially the only boy from the Caribbean but he soon learns to defend himself against racial slurs, usually with a physical response.  In the school photos, August was just a black smudge so his mother said she wasn’t going to buy the photograph unless she could see him properly. After the first few years, his mamma made him bring a torch.