About Let There Be Love

Dwight Mahabir stars as Alfred, an elderly and ill West Indian man aggrieved of, well, pretty much everything. His daughter Gemma is a sour disappointment and, against his will, has hired a young Polish immigrant to be his caretaker. Mostly, Alfred is angry that he will die in East London, a place he migrated to in the late 1950s but never called home. Let There Be Love touches on culture clashes, physical and verbal abuse, family rifts, aging, immigration, and social change. This work of art is a bittersweet late Valentine to living and dying on your own terms, and to the outsider inside all of us, eternally standing at the door, waiting to be welcomed home.

 

About the Playwright:

Kwame Kwei-Armah is a British actor, playwright, director, and broadcaster. In 2018 he was made Artistic Director of the Young Vic, where he has directed Twelfth Night and Tree.

From 2011 to 2018 he was previously the Artistic Director of Baltimore Center Stage where he directed: Jazz, Marley, One Night in Miami, Amadeus, Dance of the Holy Ghosts, The Mountaintop; An Enemy of the People, The Whipping Man and Things of Dry Hours.

Other work as a director includes: Tree (Manchester International Festival), Twelfth Night, Comedy of Errors, Much Ado About Nothing, Detroit’67 (Public Theatre, New York), The Liquid Plain (Signature Theatre, New York and Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Porgy and Bess (Baltimore Symphony Orchestra) the Olivier Nominated One night in Miami for Best New Play 2016 (Donmar Warehouse) and One Love (Birmingham Repertory Theatre). 

As a playwright his credits include Tree (Manchester International Festival, Young Vic), One Love (Birmingham Repertory Theatre), Beneatha’s Place (Baltimore Center Stage) Elmina’s Kitchen, Fix Up, Statement of Regret (National Theatre) Let There Be Love and Seize the Day (Tricycle Theatre). 

Kwame was Artistic Director for the Festival of Black arts and Culture, Senegal, in 2010. He conceived and directed the opening ceremony at Senghor National stadium. He was an Associate Director of the Donmar Warehouse and has served on the boards of the National Theatre, Tricycle Theatre, and Theatre Communications Group. Kwame was the Chancellor of the University of the Arts London from 2010 to 2015, and in 2012 was awarded an OBE for Services to Drama.

In 2012, 2013 and 2014 Kwame was named Best Director in City Paper’s Best of Baltimore Awards and in 2015 was nominated for the prestigious Stage Directors and Choreographers Zelda Fichandler Award for Best Regional Artistic Director. In 2016 he was awarded the Urban Visionary Award alongside House Representative Elijah Cummings by the Center for Urban Families for his work in the Baltimore community. In 2019 he was the Chair of the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting. Kwame is a patron of Ballet Black and a visiting fellow of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University.
 

Murphys Creek Theatre

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