‘Something is shifting between you – again.
Something terrifying
and comforting.’
Dre and Des. Young. Gifted. Black. He stayed. She left.
Years later, Des and Dre come crashing back into each other’s lives, carrying new secrets and old scars. With the clock counting down until Des has to leave again, memories of their past collide with their present and they’re forced to question if destiny has brought them back together for a reason.
Benedict Lombe’s play Shifters is a fierce, funny and beautifully intoxicating celebration of the enduring power of memory and first love. It was performed at the Bush Theatre, London, in 2024, directed by Artistic Director Lynette Linton, before transferring to the Duke of York’s Theatre in London’s West End.
Benedict Lombe’s other plays include Lava, also for the Bush Theatre, which won the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize for Playwriting.
‘So good — laugh-out-loud funny and tears-to-the-eyes moving… Grounded in cultural specifics but universal in its appeal, Shifters is a mercurial, quick-witted yet poetic examination of love, memories and grief… a perceptive and exhilarating blend of fast, smart banter and philosophical sensitivity… Lombe’s touching, emotionally intelligent and contemporary black British love story is itself easy to fall in love with’
— The Times
‘A play with real heart and soul… Shifters builds its own distinct world and organically incorporates ideas around abuse, grief, family trauma and the Black body alongside its questions about love and fate’
— Guardian
‘Pretty much the perfect bittersweet rom-com… a fresh and delightful romantic drama, beautifully written and acted’
— Evening Standard
‘An exquisitely poetic romance… Lombe’s writing is suffused with wit and warmth… Shifters skillfully tackles everyday issues – from mental health to grief to class inequality – without ever laying them on too thick. At the heart of this drama is the connection between the two leads, at once electric and sweetly endearing’
— Telegraph
‘A bittersweet, woozy rom-com… smouldering and soulful… Lombe is a beautiful, nuanced and soulful writer and this is a romance overflowing with heart’
— Time Out
‘Exquisitely written… very funny, profoundly moving… the best new writing currently on the London stage’
— Arts Desk
‘Alive and unpredictable… every moment feels on the pulse, humour blowing away sentimentality… I can’t remember being in the theatre when each new twist was accompanied by so many squeals, exasperated sighs and urgings-on’
— Observer
