Picture: Mark Senior
Coming to England was reviewed at MAST Mayflower Studios, Southampton. The tour continues until 23 March 2025.
Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩
Coming to England tells Floella Benjamin’s personal story of moving to London in the 1960s at the age of 10, adapted for the stage by David Wood from Benjamin’s successful book .
Floella and her siblings left Trinidad and sailed alone to join their parents. But the excitement for her new life in England was short-lived, with her family subjected to racism and intolerance.
Guided by her mother, and working twice as hard as her classmates, Coming to England tells the story of how a young Floella overcame adversity and grew to become Baroness Benjamin, of Beckenham.
The cast: Julene Robinson, Charles Angiama, Maryla Abraham, Shaquille Jack, Solomon Gordon, Simone Robinson, Alexander Bellinfantie, Taya Ming, Jordan Stamatiadis, Christian James, Kamarane Grant and Joe Pieri make a very tight ensemble, playing multiple characters. The energy levels are great and the singing voices strong.
The songs are simple, with repeated lines, reinforcing the themes of family and togetherness and hope. The harmonies are beautiful. There are some lovely moments of comedy, such as the contrast between the joyful gospel music in Trinidad and the droning solemnity of the Anglican church.
The whole show is well crafted to appeal to children and share the message of “diversity nirvana” as Floella herself describes it, with the next generation. But it’s also very enjoyable for the “Playschool babies” generation.
The set is compact and colourful, with multi-purpose moveable platforms adding height and texture.
The play does deal with some traumatic experiences, such as cruelty and abuse from foster parents in Trinidad, and the racist abuse and bullying in England, but it is done in just the right way so that children watching can understand and empathise without being traumatised themselves.
The book, Coming to England, is now included on the reading list for British primary schools, and director Denzel Westley Sanderson’s production takes that story and brings it to life onstage. It would be lovely if it created many new young theatre lovers and performers as a result.
Kat Wootton
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