Talking in Tongues

Talking in Tongues

Theatre Royal Stratford East

  • Opens: Thursday, 1 April 2027 -
    Booking until: Saturday, 1 May 2027

Talking in Tongues description

Talking in Tongues is Winsome Pinnock's comedy-drama about love, loyalty and identity, back on stage in a new production at Stratford East.

Moving between London and Jamaica, the play follows a group of friends and lovers as they try to understand themselves and each other. It asks what happens when the people closest to us speak a language we cannot quite translate: across cultures, across continents and in everything left unsaid.

The play premiered at the Royal Court in 1991, and this Stratford East production is its first revival since then. It is a sharp and intimate story of love, betrayal and belonging, by turns funny and painfully honest. Pinnock's other plays for the Royal Court include A Hero's Welcome and A Rock in the Water.

The play is written by Winsome Pinnock, whose awards include the Windham-Campbell Literature Prize for Drama, the George Devine Award and the Alfred Fagon Award, and whose plays include Leave Taking, Rockets and Blue Lights and The Authenticator. It is directed by Jade Lewis, Associate Artistic Director of Stratford East, who won an Olivier Award for Sleepova at the Bush Theatre and has also directed Superhoe at the Royal Court and Sweat at the Royal Exchange. Casting is by Jatinder Chera.

Tamara Lawrance plays Claudette. Her screen work includes Time and Small Axe for the BBC and the title role in Get Millie Black, and on stage she has appeared in Twelfth Night and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom at the National Theatre. Kayla Meikle plays Leela; her credits include Time and Small Axe on the BBC and Marys Seacole at the Donmar Warehouse. Further casting is to be announced.

Book now for Talking in Tongues, a funny and honest play about the people we love and the things we leave unsaid.

Playing at Theatre Royal Stratford East

Gerry Raffles Square, Stratford, E15 1BN GB (venue info)

Theatre Royal Stratford East Directions

Age restrictions

Ages 14+.