14 – 15 November 2025

Sutara Gayle AKA Lorna Gee has arrived at a silent retreat, but this story isn’t your average ‘Eat Pray Love’ moment. The Legends Of Them  is an emotive and electrifying exploration of the scenes that carved out Sutara Gayle’s path, and the legends that guided her.

Her story is a true one, and as an audience we’re thrown unapologetically straight into her most charged memories: from her rise to glory accompanied by the thumping bass of reggae Bass is my sanctuary…my escape, to her mother’s acceptance of her sexuality. Her writing powerfully utilizes the frame of meditation to reflect the jagged and high-octane intrusion of memories that replay in our minds when we sit and silently contemplate our past.

The Legends Of Them is almost a lyrical stream of consciousness, seamlessly flowing through scenes that have shaped Lorna’s life. Sometimes perhaps too seamlessly at the beginning, as I felt I struggled a little to keep up. But then that’s memories for you: chaotic, distorted and visceral.

As we’re hurtled through her life, the impeccable sound design, by Elena Peña, becomes key in signposting where we are; whether it’s the distant clang of cell doors in a Brixton prison or the bleat of a sheep as she’s driven to the provincial Catholic school in Somerset.

But what really gives this play its narrative draw is our protagonist as she effortlessly morphs into multiple characters: her mother, her teacher, even her abuser, whilst fleshing out a sympathetic character that is both hardened to the world but can still laugh about her place in it:

“Why have I brought high heels to a yoga retreat…AND a ghetto blaster?”

The legends that have guided Sutara Gayle/Lorna Gee are no secret, they are recounted like a mantra at the beginning of the piece. But the revelation that Cherry Groce, who was shot and disabled by police back in 1985 (sparking the Brixton riots) was Lorna’s own sister really brings history to life – suddenly these legends feel very close to home.

Finishing the piece on real archival footage of Sutara Gayle burning her dreadlocks at her own retreat feels apt as an ending. We’ve journeyed through the legends of Queen Nanny, Lorna’s mother, her brother Mooji and sister Cherry Groce, and circled back to Sutara herself

This story is about the legends that made the Reggae legend Lorna Gee – but ultimately, it’s her journey to discovering herself:

★★★★☆  Beth Teverson,  15 November 2025

Photography credit: Harry Elletson