National Theatre announces final free streams including Small Island

The NT’s popular online initiative continues with the ambitious 2019 adaptation of Andrea Levy’s Windrush novel and four more shows

The momentous stage adaptation of Andrea Levy’s Windrush novel Small Island is among the last batch of productions to be streamed by the National Theatre in its popular online programme for audiences during lockdown. The epic 2019 show, adapted by Helen Edmundson and staged by the National’s artistic director Rufus Norris, will be available from 18 June for one week.

The play opened in the National’s huge Olivier theatre just weeks after Levy’s death from cancer and a year on from the government’s apologies for the Home Office’s mistaken decision to classify thousands of long-term British residents as illegal immigrants. The scandal forced many out of their jobs and homes and led to detention and deportation. The Guardian’s Michael Billington called Small Island “a landmark in the National Theatre’s history: a tumultuous epic about first-generation Jamaican immigrants playing to a genuinely diverse audience.”

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