Floella Benjamin on her new play, her childhood journey, and her legacy

Floella Benjamin – actress, singer, author, presenter, politician. And, to people of a certain age, the face of Play School.

While the baroness is beloved by people across the nation today, when she first arrived in Britain as a child, she faced a hostile welcome.

She has turned her experiences as a child in the Windrush generation into a children's book, Coming to England, which has been adapted into a musical for the Birmingham Rep by children's playwright, David Wood.

"When I first read it, I couldn't stop turning the pages," Benjamin said. "It was just lovely how he'd adapted it and made it real, so children and grannies and parents can identify with the story."

Benjamin and her husband decided the book would be best-suited for stage as a musical, to reflect the energy and vibrancy of the story.

She even wrote a song for the show, Clay Mask, which she hopes people will enjoy so much, they buy it as a record.

And the baroness believes the musical is unique in its depiction of the Windrush generation through the perspective of a child.

She said: "The actors are creating history. There has never been a play like this anywhere on a stage before - we had Small Island but that's looking through the eyes of an adult. This is through the eyes of a child.

"And when children see things, they're seeing them for the first time and experiencing something that's going to build their views of the world.

"I tell the actors, 'remember the children who come to watch you are going to programme what you're saying and be formulating it on their database'. We are actually constructing that kind of mindset for them.

"So I want the actors to be natural and as joyful and emotional as possible so children will take away all of those feelings."

While the story tells the struggles the Windrush generation, it's also a story of triumphing over adversity, and Benjamin wants audiences to take this away from the theatre with them.

She said: "Facing adversity can make you stronger or break you – and my parents showed me that if you feel loved and confident about who you are, you can face anything.

"That's what I felt was important to have in a musical; for people to sit there and understand what it feels like to be different. I want people who are different to understand it's something you should be proud of, and if someone ever calls you a name or is horrible to you – about your colour, your sexuality, whatever it is – it's their problem not yours.

"If you can cope with that, you can cope with anything in life."

Reflecting on what has changed since she arrived in Britain all those years ago, Benjamin said: "What I think is different is that the children in classes today understand that there are different people out there and different worlds and they want to learn about it, they are intrigued about it.

"When I came to Britain, nobody knew about me, nobody knew about Trinidad, nobody knew about that part of the world, nobody knew about Windrush.

"Now people want to know my story and children are writing to me saying they want to be me when they grow up, they want to grow up in Trinidad, meet the Queen, and have a life like mine – and these are white children. So it really is an incredible feeling."

And Benjamin believes Play School, the daily BBC pre-school programme, played a part in this shift.

She added: "We are very lucky because many teachers today are what I call my Play School babies, so they watched me when they were little and they've seen this woman who was part of their life, still wanting to change the world and make it a better place for all children.

"I feel proud of my Play School babies who are trying to change the world in a positive way.

"They can't believe I had to go through what I went through and they don't want that to happen to any other little girl or boy in future – and that to me is what I call legacy."

Coming to England is at Birmingham Rep from Thursday March 31 to Saturday April 16.

To buy tickets, go to: birmingham-rep.co.uk/whats-on/coming-to-england/.