Bristol Old Vic Premiere THE MEANING OF ZONG To Be Broadcast as BBC Radio Play This Month
Giles Terera will star as Olaudah Equiano, alongside Samuel West as Granville Sharpe.by BWW News Desk
As the UK approaches the anniversary of theatre closures due to lockdown, Bristol Old Vic partners with the BBC Lights Up season celebrating British Theatre and new writing, with a radio broadcast of Olivier Award-winner Giles Terera s debut play, The Meaning of Zong.
Originally developed by Bristol Old Vic and The National Theatre, it was first presented as a rehearsed reading by Bristol Old Vic in 2018. The Meaning of Zong tells of the massacre aboard the slave ship Zong in 1781 where more than 130 enslaved Africans lost their lives. Olaudah Equiano, a freedman, brought news of the massacre to the attention of the anti-slavery campaigner Granville Sharp. Reports of the massacre and subsequent court case received increased publicity, and galvanised the abolition movement in the UK.