Lemn Sissay is a British poet, playwright and occasional documentary maker of Ethiopian descent. Something Dark, the focus of this interview, commissioned in 2004 by Manchester's Contact Theatre, was his third play. It toured widely in the UK and Europe and a radio version was broadcast in 2004. Lemn Sissay is primarily a poet. His first volume, Tender Feet in a Clenched Fist came out in 1988 when he was only 21. It was followed by Rebel Without Applause (1992), Morning Breaks in the Elevator (1999) and a children's collection, The Emperor's Watchmaker (2000). His latest collection, Listener, came out in late 2008. Lemn Sissay's work has been highly acclaimed and he is in much demand on television, radio and for a whole range of cultural events. Something Dark is an autobiographical one-man show, written and performed by Lemn Sissay in 2004, and directed by John McGrath. The story tells of his youth in a foster family in an all-white northern English environment, before he was rejected on very peculiar religious grounds and returned to the care of the local authority. The play goes on to explore Lemn Sissay's discovery of his real name and identity, both of which had been concealed from him by the authorities. He found that his mother had tried to get in contact with him, and that she had been an Ethiopian student who was raped by his Ethiopian airline pilot father. […]