Cherrelle Skeete on making her National Theatre debut in 'Alterations'

Birmingham-raised actor Cherrelle Skeete makes her National Theatre debut with a revival of Michael Abbensetts’ comic drama, Alterations.

In preparation for her latest stage role, Cherrelle Skeete’s family have been hearing a lot from her. As we speak, the actor is gearing up to star in a revival of Michael Abbensetts’ 1978 play Alterations, which centres on a group of Guyanese tailors under pressure in a new country filled with promise – and disappointments. Being of Jamaican and St Vincentian heritage herself, Skeete knew that speaking with people who had a closer experience to the Windrush era would be extremely useful.

“I’ve been on the phone a lot to my parents, asking them lots of questions – I feel like I’m honouring part of my lineage,” she says. Skeete plays Darlene, the wife of ambitious tailor Walker (Arinzé Kene), who has 24 hours to fulfil a challenging order for a new client, but his laser-focus on success has knock-on effects on the people around him. Of course, Darlene has goals of her own: she’s come to the UK from Guyana with dreams to fulfil, but barriers to making them a reality.

“Without giving too much of the plot away, she’s kind of at her breaking point,” Skeete explains. “I think she depicts the experience of so many Caribbean women of that time. She came from Guyana with that dream and a plan – make the most of these opportunities, get your child a really good education, and then be able to go back home.”

For Skeete, playing Darlene feels more than a new role to experiment with – it’s an opportunity to give a gift to women who’ve experienced something similar. “At her centre, Darlene is love and care and tenderness, but she’s also a lioness – fiercely protective, fiery. I specifically want our elder Black women to see themselves in Darlene, as I feel like I’m also channelling parts of my grandmother’s story and all the women that came before her.”

Michael Abbensetts was a Guyana-born British writer who was the first Black British playwright commissioned to write a television drama series: Empire Road, a two- season BBC programme depicting life in a community of Black and Asian migrants in Birmingham. Hailing from Birmingham herself, Skeete had heard of the 1970s series before, but hadn’t yet engaged with Abbensetts’ stage work – something she’s found increasingly joyful as the rehearsal process has got underway.

“It’s been incredible being able to bring Michael Abbensetts’ work to life,” she explains. “It’s colourful, well-researched work about the migrant experience, the Windrush experience in the 70s, and I love being able to introduce his work to a new audience.”

Throughout her career, Skeete has regularly taken on work that has a deep personal meaning. In 2023, she starred in Kwame Kwei-Armah’s Beneatha’s Place, which imagined a character from Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun embracing a new life in Lagos, Nigeria, while Temi Wilkey’s The High Table saw her as part of a queer couple triumphing over family disagreements and homophobia. On screen, one of her most recent roles was in the Hulu drama, Black Cake, in which she received praise for her portrayal of Joanie, who was embroiled in a touching, life-affirming love story.

“Whenever we get to depict Black love, and specifically Black queer love, it’s very powerful,” she says. “Being a Black queer person, being able to depict that character, it meant a lot. Joanie is the person that really sees her partner for who she is. I felt really proud to be part of that in the storyline.”

When it comes to future roles, Skeete has ambitions of engaging more with the stories of people who have evoked change in the country. “I would love to have the opportunity to depict more Black British women in the 70s, 80s and even going further back. I’m really interested in Black British history and bringing that to light, because we’re still figuring out who we are.”

But for now, Alterations has her full attention. Though the play is from the 1970s, Skeete sees it as just as relevant for an audience of today, with its themes of migration feeling as urgent as it did nearly 50 years ago. “It is about the experience of the immigrant,” she says. “People travel or have to leave their country for different reasons, and it’s always based on a dream that things will be better, if not for me, then for my children.

“The hope is that, with those sacrifices along the way, your children won’t have to go through what you have gone through – and you can place that anywhere around the world at any time.”

Book Alterations tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk

Photo credit: Cherrelle Skeete, and in Alterations with Arinzé Kene. (Photos courtesy of production)

This article first appeared in the March 2025 issue of London Theatre Magazine.