Lava
'This is nice, innit? Yeah. Good little set-up to tell you the story of my name. The story of my true name.'
When a woman receives an unexpected letter from the British Passport Office, she is forced to confront an old mystery: why does her South African passport not carry her first name? Armed with the wisdom of favourite '90s TV shows, she sets out on a journey that will take her back to the turmoil of Mobutu's Congo, growing up in post-Apartheid South Africa, moving to Ireland, and finding love in a hostile England.
As her journey becomes inextricably linked with the tides of global history, how far will she go to unravel the truth? By turns wickedly funny and strikingly lyrical, Benedict Lombe's Lava is an explosive debut play that will turn the way you see the world on its axis.
It premiered at the Bush Theatre, London, in July 2021, performed by Ronke Adékoluejo and directed by Anthony Simpson-Pike.
Lava was awarded the prestigious Susan Smith Blackburn Prize in 2022. It also won Best Performance Piece at the 2022 Offies (Off West End Awards), and Benedict Lombe won the Book and Lyrics Recognition Award at the 2021 Black British Theatre Awards.
Benedict Lombe is a Kinshasa-born Congolese British writer based in London. She began her relationship with the Bush on their Emerging Writers' Group, and Lava was written on commission.