Little Baby Jesus (NHB Modern Plays)

Three magnetic personalities and three remarkable stories from the poetic imagination of Arinzé Kene, winner of the Most Promising Playwright Award at the 'Offies' (Off West End Theatre Awards). Kehinde is older than his years, a boy with an innocence and a passion for mixed-race girls. Joanne is dipped in rudeness and rolled in attitude. And then there's Rugrat, the class clown, underachiever and playground loudmouth. The boy who never leaves, the schoolgirl trying to distance herself from her past, and the schoolboy always on the outer of the inner circle - in this lyrical triptych of interconnected monologues, three inner-city teenagers are about to become adults. Little Baby Jesus was first performed at Oval House Theatre, London, in May 2011 in a co-production by Oval House, BEcreative and the English Touring Theatre. Little Baby Jesus is also available in the volume Little Baby Jesus and Estate Walls: Two plays. 'Utterly magnetic... genuinely original' - Time Out 'It's the writing that makes this and Kene worth watching. It fizzes and froths and sometimes squeaks with pure pleasure at its own delight in words and the poetry and rhythms of the streets. It has grace, too' - Guardian 'Heart-warming, heart-breaking, poetic, layered, funny' - Whatsonstage.com 'Kene continues to peel back the cliches surrounding disenfranchised inner-city teenagers to reveal the characters behind the headlines' - The Stage

Arinzé Kene is a playwright and actor. His plays include Misty (Bush Theatre, London, and West End, 2018); good dog (Tiata Fahodzi, 2017); God's Property (Soho Theatre, 2013); Estate Walls (Ovalhouse Theatre, 2011); and Little Baby Jesus (Ovalhouse, 2011).