Caribbean First & Last at Tricycle

Sitting in Limbo, a newly commissioned Caribbean drama directed by Anton Phillips, will premiere 1 May 1998 (with previews from 29 April) at the Tricycle Theatre in north London. It is the final production for the black Carib Theatre Company whose funding from the London Arts Board has been cut.

Sitting in Limbo is inspired by the events of 19 October 1983 when Maurice Bishop, Prime Minister of Grenada, was killed. The new hard-left regime led by Bernard Coard and his wife Phyllis survived four days before US Marines invaded and occupied the island, thus 'saving' it from communism. Phyllis Coard was arrested, along with many others, and has been a prisoner now for over 14 years. For most of that time, she has been the only woman prisoner on the island.

Lavern Archer and Pauline Black star in this two-hander which explores the roles of two women in a prison - one a prisoner, the other her jailer - both locked into their socially opposed roles. Together they embody the polarised divisions and politics of the Caribbean, which could destroy them both.

Over the past 18 years, Carib Theatre Company has featured plays by some of the world's leading black writers, including James Baldwin, Derek Walcott, Earl Lovelace and Trevor Rhone. Carib's production of Baldwin's The Amen Corner at the Tricycle was the only play produced by a black theatre company to ever transfer to the West End.

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