The Women of Llanrumney

Llanrumney plantation. Saint Mary Parish, Jamaica. 1765.

Annie and Cerys are enslaved by the Morgan family from Wales. When Elizabeth Morgan is faced with the loss of her plantation, the slaves' future hangs in the balance.

With a storm of rebellion brewing, Annie does everything she can to secure her future. But sooner or later she will have to face up to the horror and trauma all around her, including her own.

Azuka Oforka's play The Women of Llanrumney is a powerful, searing drama that explores the impact of slavery and the lives of women who experienced it – those who benefitted from it, those who were brutalised by it and those who fought to destroy it. It premiered at Sherman Theatre, Cardiff, in 2024, directed by Patricia Logue.

Azuka Oforka was the joint winner of the Best Writer award at The Stage Debut Awards 2024.

'Blistering... conceptually brilliant, with complex characters and a fearless cast... a remarkable examination of women under colonialism... searing... unambiguously contemporary... Oforka is an urgent and important voice in Welsh theatre'— Guardian

'Cracking... a tremendous and powerful debut'— Telegraph

'Remarkable... a poignant historical play which boldly salutes the fierce, feisty and brave enslaved women of that period and serves as a testament to their resilience and resistance'— WhatsOnStage

'A scorching writing debut... soars in its boldness... epic sweep, exposing the grotesqueness of colonialism... marks the arrival of an exhilarating new voice'— The Stage (2024)

'Remarkably assured and bold... successfully treats horrific subject matter with a mixture of mordant wit, melodrama and deliberately anachronistic absurdism... an auspicious debut about an important subject that marks Oforka as a talent to watch'— Evening Standard

'Bold and ambitious... rooted in the truths of slavery, the play tackles its horrors with verve, energised by anger and laced, unexpectedly, with broad humour'— Observer

'A fascinating look at a period in British history usually kept under lock and key... darkly subverts period cliches'— Time Out

Best Writer, The Stage Debut Awards

Joint winner of Best Writer, The Stage Debut Awards 2024

'Blistering... conceptually brilliant, with complex characters and a fearless cast... a remarkable examination of women under colonialism... searing... unambiguously contemporary... Oforka is an urgent and important voice in Welsh theatre'

'Cracking... a tremendous and powerful debut'

'Remarkable... a poignant historical play which boldly salutes the fierce, feisty and brave enslaved women of that period and serves as a testament to their resilience and resistance'

'A scorching writing debut... soars in its boldness... epic sweep, exposing the grotesqueness of colonialism... marks the arrival of an exhilarating new voice'

'Remarkably assured and bold... successfully treats horrific subject matter with a mixture of mordant wit, melodrama and deliberately anachronistic absurdism... an auspicious debut about an important subject that marks Oforka as a talent to watch'

'Bold and ambitious... rooted in the truths of slavery, the play tackles its horrors with verve, energised by anger and laced, unexpectedly, with broad humour'

'A fascinating look at a period in British history usually kept under lock and key... darkly subverts period cliches'

'Searing... Azuka Oforka's piercing, powerful drama illuminates a dark and under-discussed chapter of British history through an absorbing human story of resistance, complicity, and class dynamics... the characters are brilliantly realised – richly drawn, full of compelling complications and fascinating contradictions... Oforka skilfully uses these characters' conflicting motivations and differing perspectives to build an incisive critique of colonialism'

'Blistering... a searing interrogation of slavery... Azuka Oforka's debut makes stunning theatre out of real-life events in 18th-century Jamaica'

'Searing, subtle, nuanced, illuminating, funny, and, above all, thought-provoking'

'Fearless and unflinching'

'Powerful, tense and heart-wrenching... a layered exploration of tyranny, endurance, and unflinching female defiance'

'Truly astounding... moving and often shocking... If you want a story that will sear itself into your mind and stick with you for weeks afterward, this is the play you should go and see next'

Azuka Oforka is an actress well known for her appearances on Casualty. Her debut as a playwright, The Women of Llanrumney, was premiered at the Sherman Theatre, Cardiff, in 2024. She was the joint winner of the Best Writer award at The Stage Debut Awards 2024.

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