Red Velvet, Garrick Theatre

After a dazzling 2012 premiere at Kilburn's Tricycle Theatre, and subsequent success in New York, Red Velvet comes to the West End as part of Kenneth Branagh's inaugural theatre season, Plays at the Garrick.

Once again the lead role in Lolita Chakrabarti's multi-award-winning play will be performed by her husband Adrian Lester. Having trod the boards to sold out shows and standing ovations on stage, impressed on screen and won a vast array of accolades including an OBE, Lester is acting royalty. And critics both sides of the Atlantic were unanimous in their praise for his 'mesmerising', 'superb' performance of Chakrabarti's 'fascinating' script.

Red Velvet is based on the true story of the first black actor to play Othello. The meta-theatrical play focusses on the 1833 Theatre Royal production so it is fitting that it will come to the West End's Garrick. When the famed Edward Kean is taken ill, a young black actor called Ira Aldridge takes over the part. But, with the abolition of slavery causing riots in the streets, the significance of a black American playing Shakespeare on the London stage sends shockwaves across society.

Red Velvet is the third show in the Plays at the Garrick season and is described by Kenneth Branagh as "an important and exhilarating play which in its discussion of performance, politics, and race is as entertaining as it is illuminating". Indhu Rubasingham, who directed the premiere as her first show at The Tricycle, will take the directorial reigns for this West End transfer.