“I discovered that in the book, UNCLE TOM’S CABIN, he was a strong, intelligent man who died courageously, refusing to betray his sister slaves.”

WHO: David Lee Morgan

WHAT: “The Haitian Revolution (1791-1804) was the beginning of a new age of enlightenment, where every revolution is a part of the world revolution – or else it is a betrayal. Fiery-hot poetry from a London/UK/BBC slam poetry champion. Reviews for previous shows: ‘I am awed by Morgan’s passion, his humorous yet enraged intellectual appraisal… An energetic, clever, passionate survey of human life’ ***** (Time Out) ‘One of those rare, passionate performances… bristling with energy and interesting ideas… a bracing crash course in how to ‘read history… with a f***ing blowtorch’ **** (Scotsman).”

WHERE: Theatre 3 at theSpace @ Surgeons’ Hall (Venue 53) 

WHEN: 14:05 (50 min)

MORE: Click Here!

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Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

My first Edinburgh show was in 1997. Over the years it has allowed me to develop what feels like a new genre to me: an hour long, spoken word poetry show, conceived not as a collection of individual poems, but as a unified exploration, using all the tools of music and metaphor to get to the heart of subjects that are not just controversial, but of life and death importance.

The Edinburgh Fringe has changed my life, spurred me to grow and keep on growing as an artist and as a human being.

What are the big things you’ve learned since 2024 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?

This is a short poem from the book version of my show, but it answers your question exactly:

GENOCIDE TELEVISION

Sometimes, the tears of a child wash away the dust
And you remember that each point in a statistic
Is a human life

But the dust comes back
Like fallout from a mushroom cloud
It settles
It decays everything

What I have learned from Gaza
Is that human rationality is fragile
And empathy is a double edged sword
It can sever your own heart strings
As easily as it can smite an enemy

If you want it badly enough
You can make yourself believe anything.

Tell us about your show.

I began researching and writing this show over two years ago. It started with UNCLE TOM, an epithet back in the Sixties for a black activist who was a sellout, a phoney, but I discovered that in the book, UNCLE TOM’S CABIN, he was a strong, intelligent man who died courageously, refusing to betray his sister slaves. This led me to the book itself, which sold more copies from 1800 to 1900 than any other English language book, with the possible exception of the Bible. This led me to John Brown, who died fighting against slavery, who was inspired by Toussaint Louverture and the Haitian Revolution. This led me to The Black Jacobins, by Trinidadian historian CLR James.

My show is about the Haitian Revolution, in the context of the US and French Revolutions and the war against slavery and colonialism. It’s about the lessons we can and must learn from it in these dangerous, cataclysmic times.

What should your audience see at the festivals after they’ve seen your show?

ORDINARY DECENT CRIMINAL, written and performed by Mark Thomas… anything Mark Thomas does is worth seeing – again and again. @painesplough

NOWHERE, written & performed by Khalid Abdalla. @traversetheatre
I’m writing this during the Gaza genocide and hours after Trump has ordered the US bombing of Iran. I know nothing about this show beyond what’s in the program, but it looks unmissable.
“…inspired by his involvement in the Egyptian revolution of 2011, and his experience of the counter-revolution that followed… Encompassing the histories of colonialism and decolonisation, friendship and loss, protests and uprising against regimes across the world and the violence in Gaza following the events of October 7th 2023.”

FIND ME by Olwen Wymark, the powerful true story of Verity, a teenage girl institutionalised after a mental health crisis, performed by the Parker & Snell Youth Company. @theSpaceUK
You should see this show because Olwen Wymark was a wonderful writer, with heart and soul and true craftsmanship.

I want to see the show because I knew her. We first met when the Theatre Writers Union merged with the Writers Guild and we immediately became close friends. I’ve heard her radio plays and read her play scripts, but this is the first chance I’ve had to see one of her plays on stage. I’m so excited about this. I’ll just say one more thing about the kind of woman she was: after she died, the Writers Guild started a yearly award in her name, to go to the member who had done the most to support and nurture new writers.

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