“Friendship is a plant of slow growth, and, like our English oak, spreads, is more majestically beautiful, and increases in shade, strength, and riches, as it increases in years” – Charles Ignatius Sancho
Sancho & Me at York Theatre Royal on November 14 is an unmissable night of storytelling by actor and author Paterson Joseph built around his recent novel The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho.
Charles Ignatius Sancho was born on a slave ship on the Atlantic Ocean in 1729. He became a writer, composer, shopkeeper and respected ‘man of letters’ in 18th century London – and the first man of African Heritage to vote in Britain.
Paterson Joseph will be accompanied by co-creator and musical director Ben Park in a show that explores ideas of belonging, language, education, slavery, commerce, violence, politics, music, love and where these themes intersect with Paterson’s own story of growing up Black and British.
Paterson Joseph says: “Ignatius Sancho (1729-1780) had a most extraordinary life. Born of enslaved African parents, he rose to a position of great influence in British society. A polymath with a talent for music, his vote in 1774 and 1780 made him the first person of African descent to vote in a British Parliamentary election.”
“I first came across Charles Ignatius Sancho in 1999. Born and raised in London, by my mid-thirties I had no idea there were thousands of Black Britons in the UK long before the famous ‘Windrush Generation’ who arrived in the 1940s/50s and 60s. I cannot overstate the powerful sense of belonging this knowledge brought me.”
“My desire is to spread that sense of rootedness through spreading the word far and wide: Britain has always been a multi-ethnic country and Black People have been a major part of that story.”
The show uses Sancho’s compositions and original music by co-creator, composer and musician Ben Park.
Paterson Joseph’s novel The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho won the RSL Christopher Bland Prize and The Historical Writer’s Association Debut Novel Prize in 2023.
Sancho & Me is at York Theatre Royal on November 14.
Find out more information and book your tickets here.
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