Floella Benjamin’s Coming To England at Lighthouse Poole Review
DISCLOSURE – TICKETS TO SEE THE SHOW WERE GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW
Reviewed by Maddie Reynolds
Coming to England tells story of Floella’s journey on moving to England as a child when she was 10 years old. The stage set was a giant television screen, the show started where they transported us back to 1970 and play school. Floella Benjamin played by Julene Robinson who stood there and welcomed us to the show singing the hello song with a great big smile and bright coloured jumper.
The show takes us through her journey of how she went on to become a Television presenter, author, singer and politician
As her parents set sail with the two younger siblings Floella along with her sister and two brothers move in to foster care, The girls were split from their brothers until they were able to join their parents and younger siblings again. During this time the girls were treated like slaves and made to clean and cook all the time.
Her excitement for new life in England was short lived and she was subjected to racism and intolerance during the 1960s in London. The inspiration behind the story originally came to light when Floella’s children asked what life was like growing up as a child and there were no books that described her childhood of living happily in one culture. You could never imagine how they felt with their parents leaving them behind in foster care, before they could re-join their family to build a new life in England.
The hope of being reunited as family again is clearly what kept them strong. They faced many rejections and adversity along the way and were made to feel like they didn’t belong, but had to learn to make the most of their new life in Britain. The show was very heart warming and shows how Floella’s parents were looking to find a better life in England for their family in the 60s, they faced many challenges.
With positivity and determination and the support of their parents they all went on be very successful. Floella was one of the first black women to appear on television in the 70s, she helped to change the perception of generations of viewers.
The cast was a small with just 12 which included principle roles along with swing members of the cast playing a variety of roles.
Julene Robinson who played Floella took us through each part of the story and told it as it happened, she was phenomenal and brought Floella to life as I remembered her from when I used to watch her as a child. There were great vocals and harmonies. The set was cleverly done with backdrops and blocks in the middle of the stage. They were used for various things to set changes such as the boat when they were leaving England and stairs in the underground, it was very minimal but made all the scenes look realistic with the back drops to support the different places as they went through their journey.
Hearing the stories of what they went through as a family and how they all went on to be very successful was interesting. Changing history through incredible determination and strength. They told the story well as a cast throughout, the show is full of fun and laughter as well as emotions. It takes us back to a life when multi-cultural people were not welcome in England and treated badly for the colour of their skin. Discriminated against for just wanting to be accepted and not seen as being different.
There are now more people living in Britain with different cultures from all over the world. Some still face adversity and rejection, living in hostile environments. Not having the sense of belonging. Although this is still happening Floella and many others are striving to make this a thing of the past.
We really enjoyed the show and being taken back to their journey, it not only captured a piece of British history but shows how not giving up, things can be achieved. Lighthouse is in Kingsland road in the centre of Poole, with plenty of parking in the carpark opposite, there is also a bus station opposite and it’s within walking distance from Poole train station.
Tickets prices start from £14.98 it runs at Poole Lighthouse from Thursday 13th February till Saturday 15th February with 3 evening shows starting at 19:00. One at 11:00 on Friday 14th February and one on Saturday at 14:00. Running time is 2 hours with an interval.
The show is recommended for the whole family with an age guidance of 7
There are still tickets left for the various performances.
Tickets on sale now at www.lighthousepoole.co.uk or phone 01202 280000.
Coming to England is touring the country and still has some dates for 2025 and can be found here on their website https://musicalsontour.co.uk/coming-to-england-tour/
I would rate the show 5/5 and would recommend this for age 10 and above.
These tickets were gifted tonight for the purpose of this review.
Rating: 5/5