In 1688 the British writer and playwright Aphra Behn published her 'true history' called Oroonoko, or the Royal Slave. It tells the story of an African prince, tricked into slavery and transported to the British colony of Surinam in South America. Biyi Bandele has written a witty, thought-provoking play that is at once a celebration of Aphra Behn's humanist vision, a bold and irreverent re-interpretation of the three hundred year-old classic and a tragic love story that resounds with passion. First performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company at The Other Place, Stratford-on-Avon, in 1999. (Cast 10m, 3f). "There's a political indignation, but a refreshing lack of political correctness in Bandele's version [of Oroonoko]" Paul Taylor, The Independent "Bandele says he took 'nothing except the plot' from Behn's work, and indeed the dialogue shows all the signs of his characteristic register. It is at once richly poetic and sardonic... One can bathe in the milk of Bandele's phrasing..." Ian Shuttleworth, Financial Times "Bandele's writing is an explosive, muscular blend of coloquial English, ornate ceremonial diction, formal diplomatic intimidation and ribald sexual jokes ... Bandele has written his own play but preserved both Behn's humane indignation and her adventurous sense of romance. A treat." John Peter, Sunday Times Aphra Behn (1640-1689) was an English playwright, poet, prose writer and translator from the Restoration era. As one of the first English women to earn her living by her writing, she broke cultural barriers and served as a literary role model for later generations of womenauthors. Rising from obscurity, she came to the notice of Charles II, who employed her as a spy in Antwerp. Upon her return to London, she began writing for the stage. Her best-known works are Oroonoko or, The Royal Slave, sometimes described as an early novel, and the play The Rover. 'Biyi Bandele (1967-2022) was a Nigerian novelist, playwright and filmmaker. He was the author of several novels, beginning with The Man Who Came in From the Back of Beyond (1991), as well as writing stage plays, before turning his focus to filmmaking. His directorial debut was in 2013 with Half of a Yellow Sun, based on the 2006 novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. His plays include: Rain; Marching for Fausa (1993); Resurrections in the Season of the Longest Drought (1994); Two Horsemen (1994), selected as Best New Play at the 1994 London New Play Festival; Death Catches the Hunter and Me and the Boys (published together in one volume, 1995); and Oroonoko, a stage adaptation of Aphra Behn's novel. He worked with London's Royal Court Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), as well as writing radio drama and screenplays for television.