The Lamplighter is one of those plays that doesn't need performing to have an impact: just reading through the script allows Kay's words to sing from the page, demanding to be heard. It has an inescapable rhythm that pulls you through, however painful you might find it.

The polyphonic narrative is intense but never disorienting. Kay picks out some vivid, personal scenes amongst the flood of words. I was particularly impressed with the way the characters' words are interwoven with history, in a way that is easy to follow even as we jump about in time and place. It's a poignant reminder of how British cities are bound up with the history of slavery.

The Lamplighter is an immensely powerful piece of writing, at once guttural and poetic.

This play packs a punch. Jackie Kay has created a powerful story that takes you inside the world of the Slave Trade in all of its uncomfortable detail. We see slaves getting captured, their horrific sea voyage, to the markets and finally to the sugar plantations in the West Indies., Kay has opted to tell her story orally rather than visually, which works very well when reading it. She allows the voices of the characters to tell you their stories in their own way which is very impactful as it forces the reader/viewer to create the harrowing images of the slave trade in your own mind. Jackie Kay is using her skills as a poet in full force here as she propels you through the story, effectively pulling you through some heart-wrenching and memorable moments. Her use of dialogue is precise and authentic and I believe everyone should read or see this play, particularly when considering the attention Racism and its history is getting today.

The Lamplighter is a play about slavery and the slave trade first written and produced in 2007 and now published with a new introduction by Kay. It reads like a multi-voiced poem with a chorus and individual stories, as a few characters relate their own and others' experiences as slaves. Interweaved with this are, as Kay discusses in the introduction, details about British involvement in the slave trade and the way in which particular cities, including Glasgow, were deeply involved, and the book ends with a list of further reading to follow up on the stories and the events from the play.

This is a powerful way of both telling specific stories about slavery and getting across a sense of the wider realities of the slave trade, both in terms of human experience and the impact upon everyday things like food (particularly sugar) and cities. The repetition and use of the chorus is particularly effective in replicating voices and getting across scale, and you can almost hear it as you read, and hear parts read in different voices. The emotion really comes across and so does the important educational element, making points about what isn't taught in school curriculums and how the slave trade can't be separated from the growth of British cities and the industrial revolution. Even people who don't typically read plays should pick this one up, as the format allows Kay to tell these different stories in an approachable, moving way.

This play is unbelievable to read on the page. The rhythm of Jackie Kay's writing propels you through the story, through both powerful and heart wrenching moments. Using short snappy, overlapping lines of dialogue, the characters describe their plight as victims of the slave trade. You hear about the horrific treatments they and their children suffered but also, it is highlighted how integral slavery was to the rise of Great Britain.

This is a must read and I will definitely be buying it for people I know. It's an important topic in a less widely read format and it was executed perfectly.