Chiaroscuro photo on Stagedoor

Chiaroscuro Tickets

Chiaroscuro: (noun) the treatment of light and shade in drawing and painting.

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Sat 31 Aug - Sat 5 Oct, 2.30pm & 7.30pm

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In the art world, Chiaroscuro is a term that refers to the way light and darkness are contrasted in painting. Back in the 80s, playwright Jackie Kay wrote this play about the way women of colour are treated as a result of the shade of their skin. This new version, by incoming Artistic Director Lynette Linton, will reimagine the story in a way that shows how experiences have evolved over the last 40 years.
Marking the directing debut of Lynette Linton in her role as the Bush’s new artistic director, this is a reimagining of Jackie Kay’s 1986 play that embraces black female experience from the 1980s until now. Jackie Kay’s memoir of growing up in Glasgow as an adopted mixed race child and her 20-year search for her biological parents, Red Dust Road, has just been staged in a world premiere at the Edinburgh International Festival – and this revival should remind everyone what a distinctive talent she is. It brings together four women at a supper party who are all looking for the answer to the same question.

About Chiaroscuro

I want to find it all now know our names know the others in history so many women have been lost at sea so many stories have been swept away Aisha, Yomi, Beth and Opal couldn’t be more different, but when Aisha hosts a dinner party, the friends soon discover that they’re all looking for an answer to the same question. Does it lie in Aisha’s childhood? Or in Beth and Opal’s new romance? Who will tell them who they really are? What starts out as a friendly conversation between women, soon turns heated when Yomi reveals what she really thinks about Beth and Opal’s relationship. Live music and spoken word collide in an explosive gig-theatre event that breathes new life into Scottish National Poet Jackie Kay’s 1986 masterpiece. Directed by Lynette Linton (Sweat, Richard II), this bold reimagining explores the experiences of women of colour across generations and celebrates female identity from the 1980s to now.