Death of England: Michael

Closing: September 28, 2024

Death of England: Michael - West End History , Info & More

Cast

History

Soho Place

2 Soho Place London

A family in mourning. A man in crisis.

After the death of his dad, Michael is powerless and angry. In a state of

heartbreak, he confronts the difficult truths about his father’s legacy and

the country that shaped him. At the funeral, unannounced and

unprepared, Michael decides it is time to speak.

Thomas Coombes stars in this scorching and fearless play which asks

explosive and enduring questions about identity, race and class in Britain.

Death of England: Michael - - West End Cast

Paapa Essiedu

Erin Doherty

Sharon Duncan-Brewster

View More of The Cast

FEATURED REVIEWS FOR Death of England: Michael

Death of England: The Plays review – Brexit-voting bailiff electrifies this post-Boris revamp

6 / 10

The world has changed since Clint Dyer and Roy Williams’ sweary, swaggery, dysfunctional near-family first railed about their lives, shaped by Brexit Britain, in fast, fulminating dramatic monologue. As a trilogy of plays, it began with Michael, the son of a racist flower-seller, originally played by Rafe Spall, who told his lairy story at his father’s funeral. Then, a monologue by his Black British best friend, Delroy, about police profiling and his mixed-race relationship with Michael’s sister, Carly. These revivals are updated to reflect our world, post-Covid and post-Boris so we recognise the antagonised politics of class, masculine identity and race hate currently coursing through our society, from far-right violence (Southport is not named but it may as well be) to Nigel Farage.

Death of England

7 / 10

Back to back, the plays make Dyer and Williams’s analysis of Britain’s complications prick even deeper. The men are both stuck in states of contradiction: the difference between their thoughts and feelings are articulated throughout. Their present merges with their past: with a flash of light the language switches from narration to furious action. The world is so vivid that if there’s a weakness here it’s that I longed for more insight into the side characters – there is the sense that this is a series that could roll on, eternally. Full of rage, love, pride and deep bewilderment, these are stories that are grown authentically on British soil and are desperate for a stage.

Death of England: Michael History

Other Productions of Death of England: Michael

West End

West End

Videos