Writer: Demi Wilson-Smith
Director: Merle Wheldon
Broadway Theatre Catford, a Grade II listed building built in 1932, has long been known for bringing light entertainment to the people of SE6. Inside, a hall of fame displays framed portraits of past comedy performers: Tommy Cooper, Charlie Drake, Ken Dodd. Traditionally a South London hub of popular – and white – entertainment, it hasn’t historically been associated with cutting-edge talent or new writing.
Enter stage left: the Ryan Calais Cameron Season. The Olivier Award-nominated writer, who made his name with the powerful, For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy, has teamed up with Broadway Studio to present a season of three new writers he’s worked with closely as mentor and artistic director: Justice Ezi, Demi Wilson-Smith and Kaleb D’ Aguilar.
Calais Cameron, a Lewisham local, whose hotly anticipated Afronauts soon comes to the Royal Court, is, in partnership with Broadway, to give back to the community. The season, which started in July with Last Goal Wins by Justice Ezri, supports three Lewisham-based, early career writers from Black or Global Majority backgrounds from early script stages through to full development, pumping new blood and relevance into this venue.
Cranes, the second of the trio, is a sparky, engaging one-woman monologue performed by writer Demi Wilson-Smith. Based on a real-life experience of attending a protest against student fees in 2010, this day of revolutionary zeal and optimistic activism soon takes a dark turn. She’s a wholly likeable storyteller: sweet, funny, fresh and a little naive as any 20-year-old is entitled to be. It should be the right cause at the right time, but it soon descends into the wrong place, the wrong skin, as she comes face to face with racism, police brutality and the questionably named justice system.
The writing is rich, ripe, sensorial and visual, an impressive 90-minute debut that takes the audience on a journey into the mind and world of our young protagonist in the late 1990s. It has the ring of truth and authenticity and captures vulnerability and hope as well as disillusionment, survival and transcendence.
The compact and simple set by Ruth Badila includes a flock of origami-folded paper cranes hung above our storyteller. Suspended in quiet poetry, their relevance is unclear until the final scene. Cranes is a personal and political account that shines a light on intergenerational injustice as well as the increasingly draconian, regressive ways of dealing with protesters without once becoming preachy or expositional. Go Demi Wilson-Smith! Go Ryan Calais Cameron! Go Catford!
Runs until 4 October 2026
