Name: Sancho and Me
Start: 2026-04-26T19:30:00+01:00
Location: Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Millbrook, GU1 3UX Guildford, United Kingdom

Charles Ignatius Sancho was born on a slave ship on the Atlantic Ocean in 1729. He became a writer, composer, shopkeeper and respected ‘man of letters’; the first man of African heritage to vote in Britain. He was painted by Gainsborough, and rubbed shoulders with Johnson, Hogarth and Handel, as well as meeting George II.
Built around Paterson’s novel The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatio Sancho, with a score of Sancho's compositions with original new music, Sancho & Me is a true story, written and told by award-winning actor and author Paterson Joseph (RSC, National Theatre), accompanied by co-creator and musical director Ben Park.
This ‘remarkable’ show explores ideas of belonging, language, education, slavery, commerce, violence, threat, politics, music and love, and where these themes intersect with Paterson's own story of growing up Black and British.