This spitfire of a show adapts Andrea Levy’s award-winning book of the same name: an exploration of disillusionment of the Windrush generation, who immigrated to the UK after WWII, and who – disconcertingly reminiscent of modern times – confront the impossibility of pursing dreams in 1950s England.

The cataclysmic effects of WWII are indulgently exposed from a non-Eurocentric perspective in this play focusing on the Jamaican first-generation experience, through loving couple Hortense (Elliot) and Gilbert (Marrett Jr). Hortense, a staunch conventionalist and schoolteacher, has ambitious aspirations, while Gilbert wants nothing more than to fight and work for England. Upon their arrival though, their shimmering ideals of the mother country are shattered when Hortense’s entire worldview is disrupted, as her Jamaican teaching qualifications are immediately discredited. Through an unlikely turn of events, they encounter Queenie (Mack), a kind-hearted chatterbox who becomes their landlady. The resentment and racial tension in the household becomes implacable when Bernard (Hutson), Queenie’s puritan, elitist husband, returns from the war, battling PTSD. The unpredictable relationships that arise between the couples catapult the intensity and drama, as they struggle with how to relate to each other, in a racially charged atmosphere.

Lindsay’s stunning set design (complete with rotating stage and mechanical tramps), Driscoll’s powerful projections and Anderson’s lilting lighting is a collaboration of triumph, reproducing the enviable romanticism and glamour of 40s/50’s Jamaica and England. Elliot’s Hortense, with her Lena Horne-allure and Mack’s Bette Davis-esque Queenie, have formidable stage presence, even during visceral birthing and pig evisceration scenes. Marrett Jr’s comedic yet sensitive portrayal of Gilbert is a befitting homage to the strength of Jamaican soldiers who valiantly sacrificed their lives and dreams for England.

This sophisticated production emphasises the nuanced relationships we have with our origins, and the discoveries and negotiations we make with people from different backgrounds. Hortense and Gilbert escape their small island utopia to discover a seething dystopia that does not want them, but in the end, must find small ways to accommodate them. Rufus Norris’ production is exhilarating, highlighting life’s cyclical nature, with characters finally seeing each other in the end, but in truly unexpected ways.

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