This is a really timely piece of work, given Black Lives Matters and related consciousness-raising. Having learned more about Scotland's role in slavery over the last year than I have I the rest of my lifetime, I was really looking forward to reading this play with slavery at its heart. It did not disappoint.

Poetic and rich in history, this merits reading more than once. I can only imagine it would be fantastic to see live. The multitude of voices would really come across clearly.

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A really important and impactful piece of literature through the struggles of slavery. This was really insightful and very needed for this period in time.
So beautifully written.

Lovely to see some of Jackie' Kay's playwrighting in print. I really enjoyed this - such an insight into an area of history I am keen to read more about.

I wish that I could fully put into words my love for this beautiful book, or play. It blew me away so much that I actually ended up re-reading straight after finishing the first time.

The Lamplighter takes us on a journey through the dark heart of slavery. Produced both as a radio and stage play, it also reads as a stirring and multi-layered poem. Four women and one man tell the story of their lives through slavery, from the fort to the slave ship, through the middle passage, following life on the plantations, charting the growth of the British city and the industrial revolution.

Quite frankly, this was nothing short of amazing. The introduction was beautifully written and I found it so interesting to read. Education on this topic is so so important, yet the curriculum still remains to fail with respect to educating people on how slavery has influenced British history. For example, I was horrified to read the parts about Glasgow and its role as a port for slave trading. The fact that I did not know this previously despite being supposedly taught about the "British Empire" exemplifies how unbalanced and biased the curriculum is.
We follow four very different characters who all managed to drive the same message home. Whilst they are all experiencing different things and their voices are so individual, yet they all seem to blend into one too - very clever writing!

If you haven't read this then I strongly encourage you to pick it up! It is a truly fantastic read, especially the introduction. Black history should 100% be compulsory on the curriculum as Black history IS British history.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

A really important and moving play about slavery, told in the most beautifully poetic language. I found this to be a powerful and unique reading experience.

I didn't realise this was a play when I picked it up so I tried to visualise the speakers as I read. It is a very moving, heart-breaking and horrific read. I would love to hear the radio version or see it at the theatre. The stars reflect my opinion that plays should be watched, not read, I'm very confident this would be a five star show.

A wonderful collection. Perfect for those not familiar with Jackie Kay’s work, it shows off her incredible talent beautifully.

I loved this, as I have loved everything I've read so far by Jackie Kay. It deserves to be a huge success!

I’m a fan of Jackie Kay. I’ve read all of her books so I had high hopes for this play. The standard and quality is exactly as I’ve come to expect from the author. I’ve read a few plays. A play by its nature is much better to see performed by I enjoy reading them and can easily visualise everything in my head. I loved the four voices in The Lamplighter. Their stories were incredibly sad and reduced me to tears at time. The stories of the slaves are all similar and equally terrible; sold, passed between Slave Masters, treated like animals, beaten and raped if you’re unlucky enough to be a woman. I really loved this.

Lamplighter is such a rich and beautifully written play.
It pulls you in and really shines a light on the reality of Slavery.
I thoroughly enjoyed this read and would highly recommend it.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for providing me with this copy of <i> The Lamplighter </i>.

I am always in awe when I read Jackie Kay's works. The power in them is undeniable and The Lamplighter is no exception. Technically, this is only a re-print but it comes with a brand new foreword by the playwright herself and in it, she refers directly to the times we're living in at the moment. About our COVID-19 situation, about how the topics of racism and slavery are still as important as they always were.

I was already deeply affected just by reading the foreword.

It did not prepare me at all for what I would be feeling during the play.
This play is so incredibly important, and especially in times of Black Lives Matter and where we are all educating ourselves on the past and learning how to become anti-racist.

This piece of theatre has the power to change people.

Please read it.

First performed as a play and published in 2008, this is the updated version with a new introduction written by Jackie Kay, her words create a moving picture of the reality of slavery and her dismay and finding out that Glasgow was also a slave trading port. The play itself is powerful, her lyrical writing giving life to 4 different women who articulate the unspeakable realities of being slaves, from the perilous sea crossings to being at the whim of their captors and 'owners'. It is a sobering and moving read with the characteristic poeticism that we have come to expect from Jackie Kay. I imagine that it was incredibly powerful on stage which you can imagine from the way it is written.

With thanks to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

This is an incredible telling of the horrors and evils of slavery. Crafted from true accounts, intricately researched and hauntingly raw and honest. It is absolutely horrific to read, and incredibly sad, though that word doesn’t really cut it at all.
It’s so difficult to review, or give a star rating to a piece of work such as this one. It doesn’t feel right. It should simply be marked as important and essential reading.
I loved the way in which the story was shared between the main women - the idea that the individual story was also universal to each slave really came through. Often it felt more like a poetry reading with many voices, and at other times, it felt more like prose.
My only real criticism is the amount of repetition in this, which could sometimes feel somewhat gimmicky, but it also contributed to the feeling of the one story being several stories, so sometimes it made sense for lines to be repeated.
I thought this was an incredible play - the form of performance entirely brings the reader or audience into this story, or reality, in ways I haven’t experienced before. This needed to be written, and I’m so thankful that it was.

This is the text of the radio and stage play , it tells the story of Britain’s responsibility and history in the slave trade, I say responsibility as we are responsible ( I am a British white female) I hear so much how America this or that, Britain is not innocent, Britain is completely and utterly guilty ! This needs to be part of the British curriculum along with proper education of Britain’s history, colonialism, everything empire related in a true teaching. This text/ transcript is powerful in how it delivers its message, it manages to not only educate facts and history, but more importantly conveys the true human cost, the human experience and full emotion. It is a wonderful play and I was disappointed to find you can’t find the audio or video version version anywhere, this needs to be available BBC ! It is a wonderful piece Of art, literature, theatre and one that stays with you long after reading those powerful finishing words.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

Jackie Kay's "The Lamplighter" takes us on a journey through the dark heart of slavery. It is both a radio and stage play and a multi-layered epic poem.
Reading this I came to the same conclusion as the author, we don't talk about this in British History enough. Told beautifully and poetically, this play is an emotional story told by four women who were held in slavery and what happened to them when they were held. Sold and used like they weren't even people, this play highlights the plight of many through the stories of a few.

The repetition, the harking back to moments in the story and the ending of this story stays with you long after you have read it. These women send a message through the story of the strength and the power these women have to do what they must do to survive and what they would do to make sure they live. The story of Anniwaa threads throughout the play and makes for a stunning conclusion, as we see her story unfold throughout.

British history in school for me was world war one, world war two, actually that's about it, but we never talk about our history of colonialism and how we became the superpower that aligned itself in Europe in the first place. This play for me would be a good place to begin when it comes that history.

This is the text of a radio play written by Kay to explore Britain's part in the slave trade. It examines our complicity in slavery, and the hidden benefits we take for granted, often without understanding where they came from today. It specifically focuses on women's voices, amplifying their situation as mothers whose children are torn from their arms and sold on, and their rapes and use as sex objects as well as workers. It interweaves their experiences with facts and figures from the time that starkly underpin the emotion of the piece. I would love to have heard it as a radio play. The women's voices working like a Greek chorus, the interweaving of their experiences and the soundscapes which create richness and texture to the piece. It's a short piece but it is packed with information that is delivered in such an engaging way you want to know more. It is brilliant that there is a significant bibliography at the back, in case you want to read more. I loved this.

Despite being unfamiliar with reading plays, I found myself fully immersed in this and felt very connected with the characters. The stories drawn from each character are offered with such emotion. The overarching chorus of slave voices, delivers lyrical, lilting storytelling. These personal stories are juxtaposed with Captains Log entries, where loss of slave lives was reported dryly in the same breath as weather conditions. It is impossible to read this without feeling deeply moved.

After reading this play, I searched BBC Sounds to look for the original radio production (no luck sadly) as i would love to hear it performed.

Originally drawn in by the beautiful cover art, this book delivers so much more and will stay with me for a long, long time. It would make a wonderful educational text.

Many thanks to Netgalley and PanMacmillan for the opportunity to review this book.

From these stunning cover artwork to the powerful final lines, this is a phenomenal piece of work. Jackie Kay introduces her play, providing insight into its creation and its relevance throughout the years since its initial release. It is a radio play bringing to life the stories of four women who endure the horrors of slavery in Great Britain. It is richly poetic, at times feeling like a song, with delicate lilts and powerful crescendos. It is also unrelentingly honest in its depiction of a terrifying time in British history. An important piece or work.

Jackie Kay’s writing is as powerful to read as I imagine it to be performed. The characters voices come through very clearly due to the authors authentic and rhythmic writing. The play vividly highlights the plight of a handful of slaves and alongside this brings home the British involvement in the slave trade, and the wider implications of this both past and present. This play absolutely should be used as a teaching aid and I certainly intend to purchase a paper copy.
*Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for allowing me the opportunity to read in exchange for an honest review*

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

- My story is the story of sugar. -

How do you adequately express how raw and sensitive and broken open this piece makes you feel? You can't. You simply let it happen. You simply shout from every rooftop to anyone willing to listen, that this script needs to be consumed in all forms of media. From the devastating truths that the 'Foreword' lays bare to the reader, to the emotions each character is forced to portray, this work proves its necessity. It's a beautiful pain that I want shared the world over because we NEED to talk about our dirty pasts.

Jackie Kay says it best when she said that "there can be no such thing as too many stories about slavery." The way that part of human history is swept under the rug is the reason much of the world is the way it is today. This is a good first step.