Nine Night
Paperback, 96 pages ISBN: 9781848427303Publication Date:
26 Apr 2018
Size: 198mm x 129mm£10.99 £8.79You save £2.20 (20%)
A4 Spiral-bound, 192 pages ISBN: 9781839041907Publication Date:
26 Apr 2018
Size: 297mm x 210mm£16.99 £13.59You save £3.40 (20%)
Ebook, 96 pages ISBN: 9781788500463Publication Date:
23 Apr 2018
£10.99 £8.79You save £2.20 (20%)
First Staged:
National Theatre, London, 2018

Nine Night

By Natasha Gordon

Paperback £10.99£8.79

A4 Spiral-bound £16.99£13.59

Ebook £10.99£8.79

  • Most Promising Playwright, Critics' Circle Awards - 2018
  • Most Promising Playwright, Evening Standard Awards - 2018

Family, food, music and mourning.

Gloria is gravely sick. When her time comes, the celebration begins; the traditional Jamaican Nine Night wake. But for Gloria's children and grandchildren, marking her death with a party that lasts over a week is a test. Nine nights of music, food, sharing stories – and an endless parade of mourners.

Natasha Gordon's debut play Nine Night is a touching and very funny exploration of the rituals of family. It was premiered at the National Theatre, London, in April 2018, directed by Roy Alexander Weise. The production transferred to the Trafalgar Studios in the West End in December 2018.

Nine Night won Natasha Gordon the Most Promising Playwright Awards at the 2018 Evening Standard Theatre Awards and the 2018 Critics' Circle Theatre Awards.

Nine Night is also available in the volume Contemporary Plays by Black British Writers.


A4 Edition also available

This play is also available as an A4 Edition, offering spiral binding, a larger print size and additional space for notes. To order the play in this format, simply select the 'A4 Spiral-bound' option above. Please note A4 Editions are only available for delivery within the UK.


Extra Content: 'One of the things I felt proud of about Nine Night was that it is a story about a family that happened to be black, but that story of dealing with grief is universal.' Natasha Gordon on Nine Night, and on being the first black woman writer to have a play in the West End. Interview in The Independent, 1 December 2018.

Press Quotes

'A remarkable debut… Gordon has a finely tuned ear for the humour of everyday life… an eloquent vision of what it means to be haunted by the past'

Evening Standard

'Reverberates with authenticity… [has] a great warmth of characterisation'

Daily Mail

'Gordon's intense, moving play pulls the focus tightly on a mourning family, and the mingled strains and comforts that tradition offers... her humour isn't cautious: it's unafraid to poke at racism, colourism, and the insults traded as Jamaica and Britain stare each other down, across centuries of brutal and oppressive history… the play says so much about how we rely on family for validation, for confirmation of our identity, putting a weight of need onto them that they sometimes just can’t fulfil. And it points to the cathartic power of ritual, too, in a culture whose burial rites are miles away from traditional England’s sad, grey funeral teas'

Time Out

'Sharp and snappy… an undeniably important piece that both celebrates and gives a voice to the Windrush generation and its descendants living in Britain today'

Broadway World

'The beauty of Nine Night is in the ordinariness of it. The mainstream delivery of black stories is often – too often – overtly political. Brutalised bodies and violent racism is disturbingly normalised in black British theatre. But what we have here is a pure tale about a regular family, dealing with a regular fact of life. This play is a gift, and you’d do well to go and receive it'

The Stage

'A highly impressive debut play… Gordon has a gift for raising big issues through laughter'

Guardian

'Natasha Gordon's debut play buzzes with comic energy and boasts moments of affecting intensity'

Independent

'An engaging family drama and a wonderful celebration of Jamaican culture in the UK'

The Reviews Hub
Paperback,96 pages ISBN: 9781848427303Publication Date:
26 Apr 2018
Size: 198mm x 129mm£10.99 £8.79You save £2.20 (20%)
A4 Spiral-bound,192 pages ISBN: 9781839041907Publication Date:
26 Apr 2018
Size: 297mm x 210mm£16.99 £13.59You save £3.40 (20%)
Ebook,96 pages ISBN: 9781788500463Publication Date:
23 Apr 2018
£10.99 £8.79You save £2.20 (20%)

Also by Natasha Gordon:

Contemporary Plays by Black British Writers

Go to author page...

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