The Wind of Change
by
Winsome Pinnock
Half Moon
1987
The Wind of Change was first staged in the same year that Black History Month began in the UK. Set in Whitechapel in East London, the play was first performed at the Half Moon Theatre, Mile End, an area with a long history of migration, immigration and anti-racist action against white supremacists which is referenced in the play.
The play dramatises the tension between first and second generation Black British parents and their children about issues of racism and identity. 16 year old Trevor, pictured above with his mum Ruth, wants to hear about her experience of migrating to London from Jamaica and training as a nurse so he can make sense of the racism he experiences himself.
He is asking this question in the aftermath of uprisings against racist treatment in London, Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester in 1981 and more immediately, the aftermath of the Broadwater Farm riot of 1985. Ruth is reluctant to talk about it because she believes there is no point dwelling on the past. The aim of Black History Month was to provide precisely this kind of connection between generations so young Black people like Trevor could understand their connection to their roots and their relatives' past lives and experiences.
Writer Winsome Pinnock drew on historical sources and contemporary sociological research to present a mix of voices and viewpoints. The play begins in the present (1986) before moving back to 1958 to juxtapose the experiences of Ruth, a black woman from Jamaica, and Tina, a local white woman both training at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel. They meet on their first day and gradually form a friendship which becomes strained by the racism Ruth encounters. First she discovers that despite having applied to train as a State Registered Nurse and being suitably qualified for the programme, she has been placed by the hospital on the less skilled State Enrolled Nurse training programme. Then we see her living in a cold and rundown bed sit which contrasts unfavourably with the cosy working-class home Tina shares with her dad.
Ruth’s letters home to her mum, although ostensibly cheerful, also paint a bleak picture of her experiences in London. Their friendship is paralleled through the dwindling of another bi-racial friendship between Ted and Sam as Ted is recruited by white racists. The play ends back in the present where we learn that Ruth and Tina are no longer friends.
Interspersed with the dramatic scenes are recordings of voices offering their impressions of London and feelings of disappointment and betrayal: ‘they taught us about the Mother country: mother, protector and friend’ (Pinnock 2025, 26). The experience and impact of the Notting Hill riots is presented through a scene in which people recall their experiences of blockading themselves in a house and seeing injured people in the street.
About the writer
Award winning playwright Winsome Pinnock was born in Islington in 1961 to Jamaican parents. As a Black woman born in Britain to first generation migrants from Jamaica and descended from enslaved people, issues of who, how and where people belong suffuses Pinnock’s work.
More resources
Stage of Half Moon website contains digitised production photos, newspaper reviews and production information. All the images on this page are from their website
Montez Press has recently published the revised playscript of The Wind of Change
You can read a copy of the original script of The Wind of Change donated by the Half Moon to the British Library for free by going to the British Library. The catalogue number is: MPS/1/14303
Credits:
copyright and credits: text by Kate Dorney, images by Amrando Atkinson from Stages of Half Moon website. Citation: Kate Dorney 2025 'The Wind of Change', Black Theatre History Month project