James Baldwin's Last Amen

The work of the American writer James Baldwin gained a new audience in the months following the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests in Europe and the USA.

His observations on race, power and black identity, featured in clips from 1960s chat shows, were widely shared on social media. A spirited performance in a 1965 Cambridge Union debate titled The American Dream is at the Expense of the American Negro is now considered a landmark moment.

But in the late 1980s, Baldwin's light was fading, and he was living a quiet life in the south of France when theatre producer and director Anton Phillips of Carib Theatre decided to revive his 1954 play The Amen Corner at London's Tricycle Theatre. It transferred to London's Lyric Theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue - becoming the first all black production to transfer from Fringe to the West End.

At Phillips' invitation, Baldwin made the trip to London to meet the cast in final rehearsals and see the production open.

During the visit he stayed with one of the cast, Clarke Peters, and gave Joan Bakewell what would be one of his last interviews. He died a few months later in December 1987.

In this programme, Clarke Peters recalls that landmark 1987 production, his relationship with Jimmy, and the lasting legacy of an extraordinary and insightful writer.

Producer: Rosemary Laryea

Editor: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Clarke Peters recalls the 1987 production of James Baldwin's The Amen Corner.