Strange Fruit
"Strange Fruit," which was premiered at the Crucible Studio in Sheffield as part of the 1980 autumn season, is a powerful study of a black family caught between two cultures.
Vivien Marshall, a schoolteacher, has been alone in England with her two sons, Alvin and Errol, for over twenty years. But, despite their education, and her lifelong hopes of them making it in the mother-country, a schism has developed, which is further aggravated when Alvin returns to England, having attended his grandfather's funeral in the Caribbean. Drawn into this family conflict are two other characters: Vernice, Vivien's neighbour and friend from the West Indies, and Shelley, Errol's English girlfriend.
performances
The Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, England, 1980
(Subsequent productions in London and Liverpool)