The Westbridge
Rachel De-Lahay
'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.
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About Rachel De-Lahay
Reviews for The Westbridge
Michael Billington
Guardian
This thrilling debut play by Rachel De-lahay plugs straight into the jittery heart of multicultural London today ... De-lahay has an alert ear for comic dialogue and her portrait of mixed-race, upwardly mobile twentysomethings on the estate – one character works in PR, another is an aspiring model – crackles with wit as well as moments of deep emotion. The play raises the provocative question of whether it is possible to shrug off the fraught issue of racial identity ... It’s a play that combines sharp one-liners with a savvy sense of the way we live now ... One leaves the theatre impatient to discover what Rachel De-lahay will come up with next.
Charles Spencer
Telegraph
Rachel De-lahay's punchy, agile drama ... her dialogue has drive and humour.
Paul Taylor
Independent
In her first play, De-lahay shows an impressively complex vision
Ian Shuttleworth
Financial Times