Editor. Hidden Gems ed. London: Oberon Books, 2008.

Deirdre Osborne

This distinctive new volume of drama by black British playwrights exemplifies how experiments with form, subject-matter and genre, can serve to centralise the experiences of black people in local, national and international contexts of culture, politics and performance. Each play is critically introduced, to create an anthology of interactions - between the people who have long championed the work through teaching and writing about it and the people who produce, perform and explain their intentions behind it.

The beautiful thing about Hidden Gems lies not in the diversity and merit of the plays – not even in the joys of learning truths hitherto not articulated in this way – but in the recording of black British voices so strong, so vibrant, that our presence in the frontline of literary achievements can now never be denied.
Kwame Kwei-Armah (playwright)