The Rolling Stone, a critically acclaimed story about the struggles faced by a gay couple in Uganda, is winning rave reviews at Richmond’s Orange Tree Theatre. Vibe’s Grainne Cuffe spoke to playwright Chris Urch.

Urch received The Bruntwood Award for the piece and was awarded a slot at The Royal Exchange theatre in Manchester in 2015. It is running at Orange Tree Theatre until February 20, the first time it has been performed in London.

A newspaper article first inspired Urch to write the piece. He said: “It was about a tabloid paper over there called the Rolling Stone that was printing pictures of men and women whom they believed were homosexual and because of it people’s houses were burnt down, people were killed over it, lives were destroyed.”

While dealing with such gritty subject matter, Urch was keen to clarify The Rolling Stone also contains some more light hearted elements in dealing with a family, the banter that comes with that, and all the joys of a new relationship.

“I hate when people say ‘oh, it’s an important subject’. It is an important subject, but we deal with the politics through the personal, so it doesn’t matter if you’re straight, gay, female, or male; if you’ve got a family you’ll enjoy the show.”

Chris studied acting at Drama Centre London but focused on writing after people responded well to scripts he wrote there.  What does he want to achieve through his writing?

“More than anything I want people to go the theatre - I feel a responsibility if someone has paid money to go and see a show. If you want people to go out in the cold in January you need to have a bloody good story.” 

The anti-homosexuality laws in Uganda, which British colonists created, make it very difficult for people to be open about their sexuality. How did he research his characters?

He says: “I spoke to people of African heritage who put me in contact with people living in Uganda. Some didn’t want to speak to me because they were worried their emails might be hacked and I realised how serious the situation is.”

He didn’t want to put lives in jeopardy but many people changed their minds, feeling the need to express their concerns and how terrified they were.

He says: “Whenever I was having doubts about the play, I’d just say ‘get over yourself’- these are real people dealing with this issue. And we’re not pointing the finger at Uganda, we’re looking at how Britain is responsible because they run by our laws and I don’t think we’re as tolerant as we think.”

Could he ever see his play being shown in Uganda?

He says: “I hope so but progress takes time. Sometimes you question what good a play can do, but if you make people aware of things- never underestimate the power of the theatre.”

The Rolling Stone is at The Orange Tree Theatre until February 20. Tickets cost from £10. Go to orangetreetheatre.co.uk