A new play by Rex Obano about black politics and reggae in 1980s London.
It is Brixton 1981, and the British brand of reggae, Lover's Rock, reverberates from blues parties. Lover's Rock is the story of Ben, a highly educated pacifist, who finds himself at the sharp end of the Brixton Riots in 1981. Against the backdrop of the events surrounding the New Cross Fire, Ben must grapple with his politics and his sexuality before he can come to terms with his own identity.
No real people are portrayed in the play. This is a fictional story, albeit set within the context of real events. Rex Obano's new play explores black British politics at this particularly highly charged moment in recent history. In the tradition of writers like Trevor Griffiths, Rex takes on big themes and big ideas within a contextualised personal story.