NEW IMAGES – in rehearsals with the electrifying cast of director Matthew Xia’s powerful new take on Small Island

Exciting new behind-the-scenes images show the incredible cast and creative team of Small Island exploring the unforgettable story by multi award-winning author Andrea Levy in a powerful new production by Olivier Award-winning director Matthew Xia, adapted for the stage by Helen Edmundson.

A Leeds Playhouse, Birmingham Rep and Nottingham Playhouse production, in association with Actors Touring Company, this exhilarating new co-production – the first to bring the story to audiences outside London – premieres in the epic Quarry Theatre at Leeds Playhouse on 11 – 28 March before transferring to Birmingham Rep on 1 – 18 April, and Nottingham Playhouse on 28 April – 16 May.

Director Matthew Xia said: “Working with such a talented, courageous and empathetic cast and creative team empowers us to delve deep – beyond nostalgia and heritage – to create a rich immersive world through which we can confront our shared history.”

The cast includes Anna Crichlow (Tess, Ockham’s Razor; The Innocent in the Fir Tree and Julius Caesar, Shakespeare’s Globe) as Hortense; Daniel Ward (Tambo & Bones, Actors Touring Company and Stratford East/UK Tour in association with Leeds Playhouse; Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, Royal Exchange, Manchester; The Amen Corner, National Theatre) as Gilbert; musical theatre star and finalist in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Over the Rainbow Bronté Barbé (Newsies, Troubadour Theatre; Kathy and Stella Solve A Murder, Edinburgh Fringe and West End; Shrek UK Tour) as Queenie; and Mark Arends (Moby Dick, Royal & Derngate; Fatherland, Lyric Hammersmith/Frantic Assembly; Mr Bates vs The Post Office, ITV1) as Bernard.

Completing the cast are Mara Allen (King Lear, Wyndham’s/The Shed, New York; An Octoroon, Abbey Theatre, Dublin; Romantic Getaway, SKY Comedy) as Miss Ma/Celia; Rosemary Boyle (Dancing at Lughnasa, Sheffield Crucible/Royal Exchange Theatre; Of Mice and Men, UK Tour; The James Plays, National Theatre/National Theatre Scotland/International Tour) as Mrs Ryder; Paul Hawkyard (Ghost Stories, ATG; Warhorse & Birdsong, West End; Here We Go, BBC1) as Arthur; Zoe Lambert (The Railway Children, York Theatre Royal production for Bradford City of Culture; The Comedy of Errors, RSC; Threepenny Opera, Northern Stage) as Aunt Dorothy/Miss Todd; Jordan Laviniere (I Wish, Unicorn Theatre/New Victory Theatre, New York; Wuthering Heights, UK Tour; Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Apollo Theatre) as Little Michael; Marcia Mantack (Of All The Beautiful Things in The World, HOME Manchester; Stepping Out, Vaudeville Theatre; Broken, Ithena Theatre) as Miss Jewel; Andre Squire (Greenland Migration, HBO Max/Amazon Prime; Black Ops, BBC; (the) Woman, Park Theatre) as Elwood; making his professional theatre debut, CBBC presenter and Strictly Come Dancing semi-finalist Rhys Stephenson as Michael; Everal A Walsh (Through It All Together, Leeds Playhouse; Animal Farm, Leeds Playhouse/Stratford East/Nottingham Playhouse; Amadeus, National Theatre) as Kenneth/Mr Philip; Toby Webster (The Score, Theatre Royal Bath/Theatre Royal Haymarket; Whistle Down the Wind, Watermill; The Provoked Wife, RSC) as Kip/Young Man in Sweetshop; and Phil Yarrow (Peter Pan Goes Wrong, West End & UK Tour; Room on the Broom, original West End cast; The Split BBC1) as Mr Buxton/Captain Soames/Sgt Thwaites.

Joining director Matthew Xia on the creative team are Set & Costume Designer Simon Kenny; Lighting Designer Ciarán Cunningham; Movement & Intimacy Director Asha Jennings-Grant; Voice & Dialect Coach Hazel Holder; Fight Director Kev McCurdy; WHAM Designer & Supervisor Dominique Hamilton; Casting Director Lucy Casson CDG; Composer Luke Bacchus; Music Mentor Ben Kwasi Burrell; Video Designer Gino Green; and Associate Director Sara Aniqah Malik.

This bold new staging of Small Island offers a fresh perspective on a world shaped by empire and entitlement, caught between belonging and unbelonging, disappointment and hope.

Four unforgettable characters bring this Windrush story to life: Hortense and Gilbert, determined Jamaican migrants in search of belonging and respect; Queenie, an Englishwoman who defies convention; and Bernard, her husband, struggling with change. Together, they discover love across culture, colour and class – and the fragile hope of a shared future.

Spanning decades and continents, this exhilarating new production draws on the joyful rhythms of calypso and the harsh realities of postwar Britain to explore the emotional truth of our collective history, brought vividly to life through music, striking visuals and a compelling story you will never forget.

LISTINGS INFO

A Leeds Playhouse, Birmingham Rep and Nottingham Playhouse production, in association with Actors Touring Company

Small Island

Leeds Playhouse

11 – 28 Mar 2026

ACCESS PERFORMANCES

Leeds Playhouse

BSL interpreted: Tuesday 17 March, 7pm; Friday 27 March, 7pm

Captioned: Friday 20 March, 7pm; Friday 27 March, 7pm

Audio Described + Touch Tour: Saturday 21 March, 1.30pm; Saturday 28 March, 1.30pm

Access productions at Leeds Playhouse are sponsored by Principal and Access Partner Irwin Mitchell

*  photographs by Pamela Raith Photography