Presents mi Mandela, on which Allen-Martin had also collaborated. Allen-Martin and Henley said they had worked on the project for four years. In 2018, the show was commissioned by Manchester International Festival for their 2019 festival and Kwei-Armah was asked to join the project by Elba and Manchester International Festival as writer and director of the show. Tree was later billed as "created by Idris Elba and Kwame Kwei-Armah". Allen-Martin and Henley claim that their creative input had included research, script-writing as well as the play's title, and that they were threatened with legal action if they went public with the story. The co-producers of Tree released a statement refuting their claims. Kwei-Armah and Elba both published personal responses to Allen-Martin and Henley's claims on Twitter. Elba said it was his "contractual right as beholder of the original idea, the album" to take the show in a different creative direction. The producers state that the two versions of Tree are "different projects....Any similarities between the 2019 production of Tree, and Tori and Sarah’s 2016 workshopped script can be attributed to the fact that both were based upon the same original concept created by Idris Elba." Personal life Kwei-Armah's son, professionally known as KZ, contributed production and vocals to Wretch 32 and Avelino's 2015 mixtape Young Fire, Old Flame, and Wretch 32's third studio album, Growing Over Life, released in September 2016. Works Films The Lorax – Mtambo (voice) Plays A Bitter Herb (1998, Bristol Old Vic) Big Nose (1999, Belgrade Theatre) Blues Brother Soul Sister (1999) Elmina's Kitchen (2003) Fix Up (2004, Cottesloe Theatre, National Theatre) Statement of Regret (2007, Cottesloe Theatre, National Theatre) First performed at the National Theatre in 2007, this play was broadcast as The Saturday Play on BBC Radio 4, on 18 July 2009, with Don Warrington and Colin McFarlane reprising the principal roles of Kwaku and Michael. Seize the Day (2009) Let There Be Love (2010) Beneatha's Place (2013) (Part of The Raisin Cycle) One Love: The Bob Marley Musical (previously Marley) (2015) Tree (2019) Hold On Twelfth Night The Visitor TV drama Casualty (1999–2004) Walter's War (2008) Robin Hood (2006) References External links Kwame Kwei-Armah was a judge in the BBC World Service and British Council's International Playwriting Competition 2009 1967 births Living people Black British male actors Black British writers British Christians English male film actors English male musical theatre actors English people