Bristol Old Vic premiere THE MEANING OF ZONG to be broadcast as BBC radio play this month

Bristol Old Vic and Jonx Productions will partner with BBC Lights Up, a series of TV and radio broadcasts celebrating British theatre and new writing, to present a radio broadcast of The Meaning of Zong, the debut play from Olivier Award winner Giles Terera. 

Originally developed as a collaboration between Bristol Old Vic and The National Theatre, The Meaning of Zong premiered as a rehearsed reading in 2018. The piece tells of the massacre aboard the slave ship Zong in 1781 when more than 130 enslaved Africans lost their lives. A freedman named Olaudah Equiano brought news of the massacre to anti-slavery campaigner Granville Sharp, and the increased publicity helped galvanise the abolition movement in the UK.

The new audio version of the play will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on 21 March at 7:30pm, later available on BBC Sounds. Giles Terera will star as Equiano, with Samuel West as Sharp. The cast will also feature Akiya Henry, Moronkẹ Akinola, Gloria Obianyo, Michael Balogun, Nikesh Patel, Sule Rimi, Michael Bertenshaw and Paul Hickey.

Bristol Old Vic will host a free Q and A with cast and creative team for audiences to further explore the piece on 31 March – further details on this to be announced next week.

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