Rufus Norris: Artistic director of the UK’s National Theatre
Rufus Norris and the cast and crew of Small Island talk about the challenges of recreating the Caribbean migrant experience portrayed in the well-known novel by Andrea Levy.
How is a script transformed into a staged play? The UK’s National Theatre is one of the world’s most prolific producing houses and its artistic director Rufus Norris might have the biggest job in British theatre: balancing its commercial success with the need to take a chance on a new play. His latest production, Small Island, is the first theatrical adaptation of the well-known novel by Andrea Levy about Caribbean migration. Set in the 1940s, it deals with the experiences of Jamaicans and Britons around the arrival of the Empire Windrush in London.
Arts broadcaster and journalist Fiona Lindsay talks to Rufus Norris, as well as members of the cast and crew, to explore the technical and creative challenges of this epic production. With unique access to the rehearsal room, she takes us behind the scenes at the National Theatre to discover how a complex and much-loved story is brought to new life on stage
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Hear Andrea Levy discuss Small Island on World Book Club
The late author on her prize-winning novel, which the new play is based on. Recorded 2012
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