Olivier Award-winning director Matthew Xia ‘speaks directly to audiences today’ with his deeply personal and richly evocative take on Andrea Levy’s award-winning story 

Journey from the sun-drenched shores of Jamaica to the cold, grey streets of 1940s London in Small Island, a powerful and intimate new portrayal of Andrea Levy’s multi award-winning novel, adapted for the stage by Helen Edmundson. 

A Leeds Playhouse, Birmingham Rep and Nottingham Playhouse production, in association with Actors Touring Company, this exhilarating new co-production – the first to bring the story to audiences outside London – premieres in the epic Quarry Theatre at Leeds Playhouse on 11 – 28 March before transferring to Birmingham Rep on 1 April – 18 April, and Nottingham Playhouse on 27 April – 16 May.  

Directed by Olivier Award-winning director, composer and DJ Matthew Xia (Artistic Director and CEO of Actors Touring Company), this bold staging offers a fresh perspective on a world shaped by empire and entitlement, caught between belonging and unbelonging, disappointment and hope.

“Small Island resonates deep in my bones,” he said. “As someone of Jamaican and English heritage – my father arrived in the 70s – I’ve personally navigated many of the tensions and connections Andrea Levy so powerfully explores.  Audiences can expect to be immersed in an intimate, atmospheric production that evokes the textures and tones of the 1940s: the sharp cut of a demob suit, calypso crackling through a wireless, the gloom of blackout curtains. Small Island is about migration and memory, empire and entitlement – but also about love, across culture, colour, and class. I want this version to speak directly to audiences today, and open space for reflection in a Britain still reckoning with its past.” 

Leeds Playhouse Chief Executive Shawab Iqbal said: “We can’t wait to share Small Island with audiences in Leeds, Nottingham and Birmingham – cities with deep connections to the Windrush story. We’re also delighted to reunite with Matthew Xia and Actors Touring Company after the incredible success of Tambo & Bones in spring 2025. 

“Together with our partners at Nottingham Playhouse and Birmingham Rep, we’ll explore our collective history through the music, style, landscapes and characters whose stories echo across decades and continents. It promises to be an important and unforgettable journey for us all.” 

Adam Penford, Artistic Director of Nottingham Playhouse, said: “We are so thrilled to be collaborating again with our colleagues, Leeds Playhouse and Birmingham Rep, to bring this beautiful and powerful tale to the stage. And we are especially delighted to welcome back former Associate Artist Matthew Xia, who previously directed memorable productions of Shebeen and One Night In Miami in Nottingham. We can’t wait to see this large-scale, theatrical epic fill the stage.” 

Helen Jeffreys, Executive Director of Actors Touring Company, said: “We are thrilled to be bringing Helen Edmundson’s adaptation of Andrea Levy’s Small Island to audiences outside of London for the very first time. In exploring themes of migration, identity, and belonging, the production powerfully reflects ATC’s mission to share global stories and foster meaningful cross-cultural dialogue. Following in the footsteps of our hugely successful national tour of Tambo & Bones, Small Island will see us once again collaborating with Leeds Playhouse as we present a bold, deeply personal new production of the multi-award-winning novel directed by ATC’s Artistic Director and CEO Matthew Xia.”