Half-Empty Glasses

I still play to their chords. Livin' within conventions. Livin' within restrictions. Livin' within a structure. Lettin' someone write my story. Toye is preparing for his piano exam to get into a prestigious music school. He's doing it for the contacts, the opportunity, the love of art. But when he notices the lack of Black British history in his school's curriculum, he begins to question himself and the world around him. Toye wants to follow his dream. but he can't let these institutions write his story. He decides to teach his classmates about Black cultural icons himself, but quickly discovers that not everyone wants Black historv to be celebrated. Dipo Baruwa-Etti's inspiring new play about the pressures of being young, gifted and ready to change the world premiered at Roundabout in Kingston, in a Paines Plough and Rose Theatre production, in July 2022.

Dipo Baruwa-Etti is a playwright, poet and filmmaker. In 2020, he was shortlisted for the George Devine Award and was the Channel 4 playwright on attachment at the Almeida Theatre. Plays include The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars (Theatre Royal Stratford East), which was shortlisted for the Alfred Fagon Award for Best New Play, An unfinished man (The Yard Theatre, London), Half-Empty Glasses (Paines Plough and Rose Theatre, Kingston) and The Clinic (Almeida Theatre, London). For screen, he wrote and directed the award-winning short film The Last Days (BFI Network/BBC/ Tannahill Productions) and has several original projects in development. As a poet, he has been published in The Good Journal, Ink Sweat & Tears and Amaryllis, and had his work showcased nationwide as part of End Hunger UK's touring exhibition on food insecurity