When director Jay Zorenti-Nakhid started working on Daniel J Carver’s Caribbean family drama, Revealed, little did he know it would change his life. Now an associate director at Coventry’s Belgrade Theatre, Jay is hoping the show will have a similarly profound impact on its audience - as he recently explained to What’s On...

A variety of tough issues and secrets are laid bare when three generations of a Caribbean family are forced to spend an evening together in Daniel J Carver’s acclaimed drama, Revealed. An exploration of differing attitudes to racism, sexuality, parenting and love, the production comes to the B2 stage of Coventry’s Belgrade Theatre this month. 

The ‘kitchen sink’-style drama is set in the family’s restaurant, where 16-year-old Luther, his father Malcolm and grandfather Sidney are taking refuge from rioters who have taken to the streets following an incendiary incident in police custody. 

Designed to be hilarious and heart-warming as much as angry and edgy, the play features three men who, although initially struggling to see eye to eye, ultimately overcome their prejudices to demonstrate their love for, and connection to, one another.

The play has become something of a passion project for the Belgrade’s recently appointed associate director, Jay Zorenti-Nakhid. Jay has not only been involved from the outset but has first-hand experience of the profound impact the work can have. 

Originally developed by Birmingham’s Red Earth Collective, the play was a response to a provocation about what black men think and feel but don’t say. It was workshopped at Midlands Arts Centre (MAC) five years ago, premiering at Bristol’s Tobacco Factory in 2022. Jay was in the director’s chair for the show, and right from the start he was so affected by the drama’s themes of identity and connection that he decided to track down his own biological father. And that was when things got really interesting...

“I’d never met my biological dad,” he recalls. “All I knew was that he left a letter with my mum when I was a one-year-old because they weren’t really together. My mum told me about the letter when I was nine, and then it got demon-ed away, locked in a cupboard, and we never spoke about it again.
“Doing the show and unpicking what it means to be a father, especially among Caribbean families - my dad’s from Trinidad - made me want to do something about my situation. So I read the letter, which turned out to be a love letter and the opposite to the narrative that I had in my head.”
Jay managed to track his father down in Trinidad, only to discover that the parent he’d never met had been searching for him too, but with far less information to go on. Not only had Jay moved and his mum changed her surname, but he had shortened his first name from the original Jacob.
The timing of their reconnection was particularly poignant - Jay’s dad had just buried his own father. 

“The day I tracked him down he was actually at the funeral, so he was going through this mad thing where he’d lost his dad but then his lost son had appeared.”

The coincidences snowballed from there. 

“We got talking about what I do for a living. He told me he liked going to theatre - which was interesting - and then asked me about the last show I’d worked on. I told him about the R&D [Research & Development] shows, and he said ‘at the MAC, in April, about the Caribbean family?’ and I was like ‘yeah, yeah, yeah’, and he said ‘I saw it’.

“So this R&D version of the show, which had just two performances, my dad was sat in the auditorium for one of them… and a few days later I was trying to track him down.”

Did he like the show?

“He did!”

The links go even deeper, because Jay’s father knew playwright Daniel J Carver through the church, as well as a few people from his son’s social circle. “It was six degrees of separation,” laughs Jay incredulously. “We’ve got a great relationship now, and he’ll be coming on opening night.”
Jay believes his own story shows the power of the play to motivate someone to connect - or reconnect - with people in their lives. He is suitably enthusiastic about getting the message across. 

“As well as the play itself, hearing this story about me being activated to track down my dad has inspired other people to do the same. So when I talk about activating audiences, I genuinely, legit, 100 per cent, first-hand feel what that’s done for me.”

He also keenly believes part of the narrative of Revealed is creating the space for those types of conversations to happen.

“Without going into too much detail about the plot, this play can leave you with the feeling that you need to do something, tell your loved ones you love them and reconcile with family.

“It [also] has the potential to create more stories, and that’s what excites me. It can be enjoyed and consumed, but that triggers us to tell a story about ourselves or someone we know - it starts that connection. We talk about how theatre can connect people, and it’s through a shared experience of watching the show, as well as talking afterwards.”

Revealed is the first production that Jay will direct at the Belgrade, but if he feels any pressure, he’s not showing it.

“I’m quite emotionally attached to the play, so it feels like an exciting piece of work to be the first thing that I do here.

“There’s always a pressure, but sometimes pressure is alleviated by having belief, and I’ve seen the impact this piece can have.”

It doesn’t do any harm that he not only knows the play, but two of the three cast members (Daniel J Carver and Everal A Walsh - middle initials are a theme) from the Bristol production are returning. They are joined by Jayden Hanley, best known as Darcy from TV’s Phoenix Rise, who is making his stage debut as the youngster Luther.

Jay says having the play’s writer in the cast is far more of a blessing than a curse. 

“For me, it’s always about collaboration, but we have clear boundaries; Dan is either in actor mode or writer mode, and the lines are never blurred.”
Jay is also acutely aware of what the play means to its creator.

“It’s very much in Dan’s blood - I’m sure he won’t mind me saying that this piece of work lives and breathes his life experience. He worked for Geese Theatre Company for a number of years and was in and out of different prison settings, working with men in the criminal justice system and often talking about some of these things.

“We are both excited about the impact this work can have with audiences, and the things people may be inspired to do as a result of engaging with it.”

But as much as he hopes the show will be a conversation starter for those who see it, Jay is comfortable with the idea that it’s also just a great evening’s entertainment. 

“It’s a beautiful story about a family, what happens when their secrets become exposed, and how they deal with that. I’m biased, but if you like family dramas that are heart-warming, funny, sad, angry - all the emotional range - then that’s what this is.”

Feature by Steve Adams

Revealed shows at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, from Friday 18 October to Saturday 2 November