New Co-Production of ‘Small Island’ Announced for Spring 2026
Olivier Award-winning director Matthew Xia will present a powerful and intimate new portrayal of Andrea Levy’s multi award-winning novel, adapted for the stage by Helen Edmundson from 11 March 2026.
A Leeds Playhouse, Birmingham Rep and Nottingham Playhouse production, in association with Actors Touring Company, Small Island will take audiences on a journey from the sun-drenched shores of Jamaica to the cold, grey streets of 1940s London.
On the news Xia said: “Small Island resonates deep in my bones. As someone of Jamaican and English heritage – my father arrived from Jamaica in the 70s – I’ve personally navigated many of the tensions and connections Andrea Levy so powerfully explores.
“Audiences can expect to be immersed in an intimate, atmospheric production that evokes the textures and tones of the 1940s: the sharp cut of a demob suit, calypso crackling through a wireless, the gloom of blackout curtains.
“Small Island is about migration and memory, empire and entitlement – but also about love, across culture, colour, and class. I want this version to speak directly to audiences today, and open space for reflection in a Britain still reckoning with its past.”
Small Island explores the complex relationships between Jamaican immigrants and British citizens in post-World War II England. It follows four main characters—Hortense, Gilbert, Queenie, and Bernard—as their lives intertwine amidst themes of racism, colonialism, identity, and displacement.
It will premiere 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.
