Information for Roots at Almeida Theatre, West End (Play). 'I sit with Ronnie and his friends sometimes and I listen to them talk about things and you know I've never heard half of the words before.' Norfolk, 1959. Beatie Bryant comes home from London to visit her family. She has fallen in love with Ronnie and passionately believes she has escaped her rural roots through the love and education of a good man. While she counts down the two weeks until he visits, she cooks, cleans, bathes and teaches her mother about high culture. As the whole family gathers to await Ronnie's arrival, Beatie faces her day of reckoning. Roots was and is a revolutionary play which bubbles over with humour, imagination and compassion for its characters. .