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A Birmingham contemporary art gallery is reviving two plays originally written in Digbeth 40 years ago.

is premiering the performances that were first performed in 1975 on Friday, June 5.

Happiness in the Homeland and There we were and here we Go were created by Roger Coward and four other artists – Gavin Brown, Roland Lewis, Evadne Stevens and Frances Viner – who worked together as part of an Artists Placement Group project in Small Heath.

The plays ask questions about what has changed in Birmingham in the last 40 years and whether the city has learned to embrace multiculturalism.

The group of artists created one play themselves and, through improvisation, worked with local residents to write a second play that described life in their community at that time.

Happiness in the Homeland explores the reaction of two teenagers to their Irish mother’s wish to marry a Guyanese immigrant.

“The play offers a domestic take on the classic coming of age story; exploring how embedded world-views transform amid family relationships and comsidering love, racism and the growth of a city,” said Gavin Wade of Eastside Projects.

“Following group improvisation it was written by Pauline Walton who, in 1975, was 18 years old and working as a shop assistant in Small Heath.