World Premiere

The Long Song

A new adaptation by Suhayla El-Bushra
Based on the novel by Andrea Levy

1 – 23 October 2021Festival Theatre

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Overview

★★★★★
Bold and brilliant. Chichester’s take on Andrea Levy’s novel refuses to compromise – and the result is phenomenal
Telegraph

★★★★
Tara Tijani and Llewella Gideon are superb in this unblinking portrait of dignity amid moral horror
Guardian

★★★★
Charlotte Gwinner’s production is lucid and light-footed
Daily Mail

‘You do not know me yet but I am the heroine of this drama. I am told that here I must give a taste of what is to unfold. I am to convey that this tale is set in Jamaica during the last turbulent days of slavery and the early years of freedom.

‘I was born a slave upon a sugar plantation named Amity. I was there when the Baptist War raged in 1831, and when slavery was declared no more. It tells of my mama Kitty, of the negroes enslaved, of Caroline Mortimer the woman who owned me. I am to say that it is a true and thrilling journey through that unsettled time.

‘Cha, I say, what fuss-fuss. Come, let them just see it for themselves.’

The Long Song is adapted from Andrea Levy’s award-winning novel by Suhayla El‑Bushra, formerly writer in residence at the National Theatre Studio and whose work includes The Suicide (NT), Arabian Nights (Lyceum, Edinburgh), and Channel 4’s Ackley Bridge.

Tara Tijani makes her professional debut as July, having graduated from Guildhall School of Music & Drama this year.

Llewella Gideon plays Old July; her many TV credits include Small Axe – Mangrove, The Real McCoy and Absolutely Fabulous.

Olivia Poulet (Caroline Mortimer) previously appeared at Chichester in Fred’s Diner and Top Girls; her TV credits include The Thick of It.

Director Charlotte Gwinner was Associate Director at the Bush Theatre, Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse and Sheffield Theatres 2014-16, where her productions included Waiting for Godot, the Sarah Kane season and The Distance.

Purchase a digital copy of the programme

Our programmes are designed to be the perfect insightful companion to the production. The Long Song programme includes Andrea Levy’s own introduction to the writing of the novel; memories of Andrea Levy by her husband Bill Mayblin; an insight into the creative process behind the production; plus rehearsal photography, biographies and news from the Theatre.

By clicking on BUY you will be re-directed to Issuu's website. The purchased programme will be available to read on their website and app.

Purchasing a digital programme does not include the purchase of a printed programme.

Prologue.

Prologue tickets available

Reviews

★★★★★
Bold and brilliant. Chichester’s take on Andrea Levy’s novel refuses to compromise – and the result is phenomenal.
Telegraph

★★★★
Tara Tijani and Llewella Gideon are superb in this unblinking portrait of dignity amid moral horror. Suhayla El-Bushra’s adaptation is a model of economy and fidelity. Llewella Gideon gives a star-making performance as Old Miss July, in turn cagey, playful and enraged while both suggesting an ancient survivor and suddenly returning in memory to younger versions of herself. These are played in flashback by Tara Tijani, a drama school graduate this summer who suggests high promise with a performance that captures the agonising rapid calculations necessary to survive in a world allowing her no value.
Guardian

★★★★
An epic account of a poorly documented period in British colonial history. Charlotte Gwinner’s production is lucid and light-footed. It was also very warmly received by a hugely appreciative Chichester audience.
Daily Mail

Scenes of rare power… anchored by a quietly compelling performance by Llewella Gideon
Times

Charlotte Gwinner’s clever, absorbing and provocative production. Llewella Gideon is wonderful... a truly impressive, remarkably assured professional debut from Tara Tijani, a young performer with genuine presence.
Chichester Observer

Cast & Creatives

Cast

Ben Adams
Tam Dewar/Charles Wyndham
Cecilia Appiah
Miss Clara
Andrew Bridgmont
John Howarth/Baptist Minister
Leonard Buckley
Robert Goodwin
Pérola Congo
Miss Bessie/Molly
Miranda Foster
Elizabeth Wyndham
Llewella Gideon
Old July
Trevor Laird
Dublin/Godfrey
Syrus Lowe
Thomas/Nimrod
Chris Machari
Cornet/Musician
Mohammed Mansaray
Boy/Ezra
Rebecca Omogbehin
Kitty
Olivia Poulet
Caroline Mortimer
Tara Tijani
July
Carol Walton
Miss Rose

Creative team

Cast List
Name	Role
Charlotte Gwinner	Director
Frankie Bradshaw	Designer
Mark Doubleday	Lighting Designer
Michael Henry	Composer, Arranger and Musical Director
Helen Skiera	Sound Designer
Dick Straker	Video Designer
Angela Gasparetto	Movement Director and Co-intimacy Director
Kev McCurdy	Fight Director and Co-intimacy Director
Susanna Peretz	Wigs, Hair and Make-Up Designer
Charlotte Sutton	Casting Director
Hazel Holder & Joel Trill	Voice & Dialect Coaches (Diaspora accents for actors)
Sandra Falase	Associate Designer
Loz Tait	Costume Supervisor
Charlotte King	Props Supervisor
Ewa Dina	Assistant Director
Jadarose Brown-senior	Assistant Wigs, Hair and Make-Up

Gallery

Pricing

Pricing Information

Price bands for an event, organised by showing
Performance description	Price Bands
Previews/Press Night	£10		£10	£29	£33
All other performances	£10		£30	£39	£43

Friends: Book up to four discounted tickets at £2 off per ticket
Groups 8+ Monday and Tuesday: £29 per ticket
Groups 8+ Wednesday - Friday: £5 off each ticket
Groups 40+ Wednesday - Friday: £8 off each ticket, plus a £5 ticket for the Group Organiser
School and College Groups 10+ Monday - Friday: £8.50 per ticket; one free teacher ticket with every nine paid
Over 60s Monday - Thursday: £2 off
Full-time students in Higher Education, Jobseekers Allowance and Income Support claimants Monday - Thursday: Half Price
Full-time students in Higher Education, Jobseekers Allowance and Income Support claimants Monday - Thursday: Standby from one hour before the performance: £8.50
Family tickets (excludes Saturday evenings): Half Price for up to four U16s with every full price paying adult. Discounts applied at the checkout. All tickets must be booked and paid for in a single transaction.
Prologue Book 3 Get 1 Free: Log in to your account to see Prologue seats
£5 Prologue Tickets may be available for 16-30 year olds: Log in to your account to see Prologue seats
Access tickets may be available for Access Members: Log in to your account to see Access seats
Book early for the best prices: Prices are guaranteed until Monday 7 June and are then subject to change

All venues: Only one reduction applies per ticket, and all discounts are subject to availability and at the discretion of the Box Office.
All venues: Discounts do not apply on Previews and Press Nights
Festival Theatre: Discounts apply to top three price bands only
Festival Theatre: Some seating areas may not be available for all performances

Audio Content: Levy's Legacies

Listen to Levy’s Legacies - our audio collection exploring Andrea Levy’s life and writing, the context in which she wrote The Long Song and Suhayla El-Bushra’s brand new adaptation for the stage:

Extract from an interview with Andrea Levy

2011, Nicky Barranger

Chichester Festival Theatre · Andrea Levy interviewed by Nicky Barringer, 2011

Interview Transcript
Stats: PDF | 299.66 KB

Desert Island Discs: Andrea Levy

June 2011, BBC Radio 4

Desert Island Discs Transcript
Stats: PDF | 369.27 KB

Only Artists: Helen Cammock meets Suhayla El-Bushra

November 2019, BBC Radio 4

Chichester Festival Theatre · BBC Radio 4 Only Artists: Helen Cammock meets Suhayla El Bushra

Only Artists Transcript
Stats: PDF | 350.91 KB

Women Writing Women: Arifa Akbar, Sara Collins and Ade Solanke in conversation with Kate Mosse

October 2020, Chichester Festival Theatre

Chichester Festival Theatre · Women Writing Women Highlights

Women Writing Women Transcript
Stats: PDF | 314.03 KB

The Long Song Pre-Show Talk

Chichester Festival Theatre · The Long Song Pre-Show Talk

Join Kate Mosse as she sits down to talk with director Charlotte Gwinner and playwright Suhayla El-Bushra to discuss The Long Song.

Q&A with Suhayla El-Bushra

Suhayla El-Bushra writes for stage and screen. She was writer in residence at the National Theatre, London, where her adaptation of Nikolai Erdman's The Suicide was staged in the Lyttelton Theatre. Other stage work includes: Pigeons (Royal Court, 2013 and tour), Cuckoo (Unicorn Theatre, 2014), The Kilburn Passion (Tricycle, 2014), Arabian Nights (Lyceum, Edinburgh, 2017). Her screen credits include two series of Channel 4's Ackley Bridge, Becoming Elizabeth (The Forge/Starz Channel) and a short film for Film4.

Was it daunting adapting a piece of work when you admire both the writer, and the book?

I did feel quite reverential at first, and was very careful with it. I think as you go along, it stops being what it was and becomes a piece of theatre and you just have to think about it in those terms. I thought about how to keep the book intact while also moving it onto the stage. The story in the book is very complete and it works very well, so I needed to turn that into something that can go on to work as a piece of theatre. In that respect it was quite a new way of working for me.

The play is from the point of view of July, and that in turn comes through Andrea’s voice, then your voice. What does the diversity of voices bring to the work?

For me, the book is about history and storytelling, and whose version of events get remembered and whose get written down, or passed on orally. Playing around with different voices, and different versions of stories, and the slippery nature of the truth, is something I’ve tried to put into the play, but I think it applies to the process of me telling the story that Andrea tells, of these people in Jamaica in the 1830s – that story has come through all these different filters. It’s come through Andrea’s lens, a Black British writer who was Jamaican but spent very little time there, and it’s now come through my lens, so it’s passing on the spirit of the book which is that all these stories keep evolving. The fact is now coming through another medium, from verbal, to print, and now on stage, feels a very natural part of the process.

Content and Themes

At CFT, we want everyone to feel truly welcome and comfortable. While we try not to spoil anyone’s enjoyment by giving away ‘spoilers’ such as plot twists and narrative surprises, we also recognise that some people may find certain themes distressing. You’ll find guidance on such content below; please be aware that by reading this, some elements of the plot may be revealed. Please note that these may be updated nearer the time of the production as staging details are confirmed.

If you have any questions or feedback, do email us at marketing@cft.org.uk.

The Long Song
Language: Racially offensive language prevalent at the period
Nudity: None
Violence: Corporal punishment, fighting, gunshots
Themes: Slavery, physical and mental cruelty