Theatre Centre has announced new dates for the trail-blazing new play Human Nurture written by award-winning writer Ryan Calais-Cameron. The Stage has recently named him as “one of the most exciting theatre-makers in the UK today”, and he hopes that bringing his play directly to schools will be a vital ice breaker into deeper needed discussions on race and belonging.
“I don’t agree with everything he says or does, but we do have a lot in common nowadays… And anyway I can’t be racist, can I? My best mate is Black.”
Runaku and Harry’s bond is so strong they could be brothers. They share the same food, music, laughs, computer games and even dreams – but not race. Runaku is black and Harry is white…but what does that matter, right?
When Runaku is rehomed, Harry is left behind in the care system, and these brothers start to walk down very different paths. Then on Harry?s 18th birthday, Runaku returns for a dream reunion that turns into a nightmare situation.
Nothing?s off-limits in this dynamite new play, from innocent childhood humiliations to race, privilege, allyship and male vulnerability. Are people born racist? Can you be Black and truly be British? We make friends with everyone when we’re younger disregarding skin colour, race, or religion. So, what happens along the way? Crucially exploring the intersectionality between race and class, Human Nurture unpicks how exclusion and socioeconomic context can affect worldviews and relationships.
Human Nurture is a Theatre Centre and Theatre Peckham co-production, in association with Hackney Empire. A previous production of Human Nurture premiered in spring 2022, co-produced by Theatre Centre and Sheffield Theatres before embarking on a UK-wide tour to venues and schools around the UK. In addition to the November run in Peckham, the autumn production is also touring directly into secondary schools, with performance fees subsidised for state schools to ensure that the production is accessible to those in an educational setting. Theatre Centre’s unique model of touring to both theatre venues and schools is blazing the trail for relevant, bold, high-quality new work to be seen by theatre-going and non-theatre-going teenagers alike.
Douglas Clarke-Wood and Kieran Taylor-Ford will play the two leading roles.
55 mins 14+
Box Office: 020 7708 5401 – https://www.theatrepeckham.co.uk/show/human- nurture/
