On Sunday 3 May 2015, 31 year-old Sheku Bayoh lost his life in police custody. The young black gas engineer, husband and father was in his hometown of Kirkcaldy in Fife when he was killed, prompting the urgent question: is Scotland really safe?

Bayoh’s family launched a campaign seeking justice and in 2019 a judge-led inquiry was announced to determine the manner of his death and whether ‘actual or perceived race’ had played a part in it.

Lament for Sheku Bayoh: is an expression of grief for the loss of the human behind the headlines and a non-apologetic reflection on identity and racism in Scotland today.

Originally commissioned by The Lyceum and performed at the 2019 International Festival as a work in progress as part of the You Are Here series, the complete work is now fully staged at The Lyceum and will be streamed to audiences at home.

Writer and director Hannah Lavery is one of Scotland’s leading contemporary playwrights and was featured as part of National Theatre of Scotland’s Ghost Light in the 2020 International Festival’s My Light Shines On programme.

BSL Interpretation, Captioning and Audio description will be available for each streamed performance – please select when booking as required.

The streaming times are:
20 November at 8pm
21 November at 1pm and 8pm
at lyceum.org.uk

Contains strong language and descriptions of brutality and racial violence.

Watch our interview with playwright Hannah Lavery where she discusses creating Lament for Sheku Bayoh