“You are made up from a mixture of myth and gene. You are part fable, part porridge”

Growing up in 1970s’ Scotland as the adopted mixed raced child of a Communist couple, young Jackie blossomed into an outspoken, talented poet. Then she decided to find her birth parents…

From Nairn to Lagos, Red Dust Road takes you on a journey full of heart, humour and deep emotions. Discover how we are shaped by the folk songs we hear as much as by the cells in our bodies.

Based on the soul-searching memoir by Jackie Kay, adapted by Tanika Gupta, and directed by Dawn Walton.

“I think Jackie is an icon of black feminism in this country, and, for me, the play’s not just about Jackie’s relationship with her parents. It’s also about her development as a black woman feminist in Scotland in the 1960s and 1970s.” – Tanika Gupta

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Red Dust Road opened at the Edinburgh International Festival in August 2019, and then at HOME, Manchester in September 2019. It toured to Macrobert Arts Centre, Stirling and Eden Court Theatre, Inverness in Autumn 2019.

Jackie Kay speaks to Tanika Gupta at the Edinburgh International Book Festival

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“Tanika Gupta’s adaptation is faithful” – The Herald ⭐⭐⭐⭐

“Gupta’s script covers a great deal and with complexity: multiple identities, the need to belong, race and sexuality.” – The Stage ⭐⭐⭐