Mitchell Brunings, who was born in Suriname and raised in the Netherlands, plays the lead and renders MarleyвЂ™s songs seemingly effortlessly. Kwei-Armah watches intently, regularly interrupting if lines arenвЂ™t spoken clearly, or to go over the motivation or subtext of certain exchanges or dance routines. The cast, dressed in a selection of slouchy dancewear and knee supports, are performing the closing scenes for the umpteenth time. The practice room has one mirrored wall and another thatвЂ™s mostly window, while the edges of the grey rubber floor are strewn with bags, water bottles and plastic guns. Photograph: Helen MaybanksДЄ new version is about to open at Birmingham Repertory theatre and, as we talk, the team are entering the final week of rehearsals. Mitchell Brunings, who plays Bob Marley in One Love. вЂњWe took parts of the show out on to the streets,вЂќ says Kwei-Armah. During the showвЂ™s run, uprisings in the city were sparked by the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man, in police custody. Finally, however, they green-lit Kwei-ArmahвЂ™s idea and 2015 saw its first iteration sell out at the Center Stage theatre in Baltimore, where he has served as artistic director since 2011. It took 10 years to get One Love off the ground, not least because MarleyвЂ™s family didnвЂ™t want his story to be told in a film or play. Not just anyone can say: вЂEmancipate yourself from mental slavery.вЂ™ The melody allows the words to bypass my critical faculties and find their way into my bloodstream.вЂќ Kwei-Armah later traced his Ghanaian roots and rejected his birth name of Ian Roberts. He was someone who could speak truth to power in a beautifully articulate but melodic fashion. вЂњBob became a hero, almost my personal poet laureate. Then came his political awakening at the age of 19. So I disassociated myself from anything Bob-like.вЂќ вЂњMy natural instinct would be: thereвЂ™s more to me than just whatever you know about black culture. вЂњIt used to really freak me out,вЂќ he says, on a break between rehearsals of the worldвЂ™s first Bob Marley musical, One Love, which he has written and directed. WhatвЂ™s more, as he was growing up in London in the 1970s, white kids were forever coming up and asking вЂњAre you jamminвЂ™, mon?вЂќ or вЂњDo you want your doughnuts with jamminвЂ™?вЂќ TheyвЂ™d call him golliwog and sambo, too. For a start, his big sister was into reggae, which put him off. K wame Kwei-Armah didnвЂ™t want to be a Bob Marley fan.

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