A poetic play exploring the uncompromising and sometimes amusing look at the prejudices black women encounter within contemporary Britain.

“they like to see us fall
to slip on branches full of fruit we have not tasted”

Lately, it’s small things.
Pop songs.
The radio.
Everyday anguish, becomes madness.
Call on your family.
Call on the ancestors.
Can they guide you home?

“we are pearl and earth and root
we know ourselves to be natural and complete
carved from rock that floats
but we should still be careful what we wish for
some of us can sink in the upstream”

for all the women who thought they were   Mad is an urgent piece of theatre examining the myriad of forces that collide and conspire against black women living in contemporary Britain today.

Zawe Ashton is a novelist, poet, playwright, filmmaker and actor. She is currently starring on stage in Harold Pinter’s Betrayal alongside Tom Hiddleston on Broadway and in the film Velvet Buzzsaw alongside Jake Gyllenhaal on Netflix. Her first novel Character Breakdown was published this year.