We were delighted to be invited to Lenny Henry’s blues gig at The Hospital Club which was in aid of The Big House and will form part of his new blues documentary for Sky Arts. It was a pleasure to see Lenny sing the blues spectacularly on top of all his other talents. He and his band also performed with special guests Laura Mvula, Mica Paris, Lulu AND our very own member Veronique Andre who sang a beautiful and moving rendition of Try and Little Tenderness.

After hearing Lenny’s remarkable speech about the work of The Big House and how moved he had been by seeing The Realness and meeting the company, Adrian Lester (Hustle, The Day After Tomorrow, Othello at The NT) offered to come down and meet our young people and deliver some drama workshops. It was great to meet Hugh Quarshie (Holby City) and Sharon D. Clarke (Queen the Musical, Ghost, We Will Rock You, Holby City) and get their lovely feedback about Veronique’s performance.