New play inspired by iconic Windrush nurse portrait being performed in Wolverhampton
An original play inspired by the iconic Nurse Brown from Jamaica picture hanging in Wolverhampton Art Gallery is being staged next month.
The Gesture will also reflect the Windrush generation's struggles and triumphs is being performed in Wolverhampton.
Local historian and playwright Jenfy Ashcroft was inspired to write The Gesture by the iconic Nurse Brown from Jamaica picture which hangs in Wolverhampton Art Gallery.
The play is set in 1956, eight years after the HMT Empire Windrush arrived in a bleak UK, and the present day.
Jenfy told the Express & Star: "The play celebrates Caribbean nurses' vital contribution to the early NHS. But it's also a mystery exploring the relationship between local White artist, Irene Welburn, and her sitter, Nurse Ivy Brown."
Jenfy explores the striking nature of the nurses hands, she said: "Why do Ivy's hands look so striking? And what is she saying with them?"
She added: “The artist, Irene Welburn, was white and trained in Birmingham and was a member of the Royal Birmingham School of Artists. She may have been a friend of Nurse Brown or possibly a grateful patient?
"We just don’t know."
The picture has become an iconic piece of art and cultural history. With several high profile attempts to try and track down the real Nurse Brown.
The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) made the picture the centrepiece of its 2019 exhibition This Vexed Question: 500 Years of Women in Medicine but failed to find the woman behind the image.
The HMT Empire Windrush carried 1027 passengers and two stowaways on a voyage from Jamaica to London in 1948. Answering the call of post-war Britain which was struggling with a labour shortage the Commonwealth nationals faced racism instead of gratitude.
By 1965, more than 3,000 Jamaican nurses were working in hospitals in Britain.
However, their successors and descendants helped create the multi-cultural society and ensure the NHS went on to become the national treasure which so many rely on now.
The Gesture is being performed in the Georgian Room, Wolverhampton Art Gallery, Lichfield Street on Friday, November 3, Saturday, November 4 and Sunday, November 5. On Friday and Saturday there are two performances 1pm and 6.30pm and on Sunday at 2pm.
The play is being directed by Jannette Barrett and is produced by Jenfy.
She said: "Producing a play can really take over your life. The writing of The Gesture was a joy but getting everything together to actually stage the play is very hard.
Tickets for The Gesture are £16 for adults and £6 concessions and the play is suitable for 16-years-old and older. For tickets and more information visit https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-gesture-tickets-740029978587.
