‘The heart of Brixton will never leave’: Sutara Gayle on writing her first full length play The Legends of Them

For a limited run only, a reggae-fuelled love letter to Brixton will hit the stage at the Royal Court Theatre.

From this week until December 21, the Sloane Square venue will present The Legends of Them, written and performed by British actor and internationally acclaimed reggae artist Sutara Gayle, aka Lorna Gee, and directed by Jo McInnes.

The story takes audiences back to Ms Gee’s childhood in Brixton in the 1970s, and to the Brixton uprising of 1985, sparked by the wrongful police shooting of her sister, Cherry Groce.

Ms Gee said: “Growing up in Brixton, I had quite a colourful life, and it’s taken me to all different corners of the world. 

“The play is about those experiences. Some good, some bad, some ugly. There’s pain, there’s passion, there’s laughter, and it’s all an amalgamation of that really.”

Ms Gee began writing the play a decade ago, it is the first full-length production she has written. The Legends of Them pays homage to many people in Ms Gee’s life, particularly her family.

She said: “My mum was an extraordinary woman. She had eight of us. She brought us up by herself.

“She came over on the Windrush generation, and did so well. She was just so full of love. I’ve never, ever encountered anyone with such capacity to love through all the adversities that she was going through. 

“She instilled this big capacity to love in all of her children and every single one of us, my brothers, my sisters, all of them and my nephews, her grandchildren, her great, great grandchildren. We all have the same temperament.”

Initially, the playwright said she tried to distance herself from the story.

She said: “I tried writing it as a fable, to incorporate fairy stories like Rumplestiltskin and Scrooge. But it wasn’t real. I was burying things. 

“So I realised it had to be personal, and I had to face it head on.”

The writing process for Ms Gee has been both painful and cathartic.

She said: “Sometimes we carry around shame about our stories, and guilt, but once we allow ourselves to witness our stories, rather than finding ourselves inside of them, then we let ourselves off the hook. 

“And that’s what I’m doing with this play, I’ve let myself off the hook. I’ve forgiven myself. I’ve embraced my younger self and asked my younger self to forgive me as well. 

“Now I feel light, and that’s my hope for the audience too, to feel light, to claim their own story and stand in their power.”

Powered by high-octane musical numbers, virtuoso performance and raucous comedy, The Legends of Them chronicles Ms Gee’s life in the music industry.

Starting off as a musician, before she became an actor, Ms Gee began on the sound systems, attending Parade and Blues Dance from the age of 13.

She said: “From the moment I walked in, I fell head over heels in love with the vibe, with the people, the way they were dressed, the music. 

“I never ever saw a woman on the microphone, it was all only guys. I wanted to do that. So I I went home and I wrote some lyrics. 

“The first time I went on the mic, the crowd reaction was phenomenal. That became my medicine, my tonic. 

“I started writing a lot of lyrics. I wanted to be different, to be good, be original.”

Ms Gee has watched her neighbourhood change over the years, but believes the “heart of Brixton will never leave”. 

She said: “When I walk through Brixton Village now I just smile and think ‘how do I fit into this? Well let me just place myself in it. That’s all it is.

“I can still get everything my mother used to buy in the 60s and 70s in Brixton market. It costs a trillion times more, but I can still get what I need. 

“I hope and pray it doesn’t change to the point where I can’t get my hair products and my Caribbean food, because if I can’t get them there, I’m not jumping on no bus all the way to flipping Peckham!”

The Legends of Them is one of seven plays announced as part of Artistic Director David Byrne’s second season at The Royal Court Theatre.

Mr Byrne said: “Every show in this season delivers on the Royal Court promise of a combustible night at the theatre.

“From reggae royalty to Robert Icke, from glimpses of the far future to echoes from the recent past – every show in this line-up is an unmissable theatrical event.”

Pictured top: Sutara Gayle aka Lorna Gee (Credit: Caroline Allison)