'Seventy percent of my constituents are white, Karen. I have to be a politician, who "happens" to be black. Not a black man who "happens" to be a politician.'

Karen loves politics. She's a rising star but on the eve of a general election she risks her career and reputation on a bitter and contentious fight over whether to allow short lists for black Parliamentary candidates.

Deselected by her party, and betrayed by the men she loves, Karen must embark on a relentless road to power and political redemption.

Provocative and raw, Upper Cut unravels the fight for diversity and black representation through today's coalition politics, the hope and rebirth of New Labour and delves into the troubled heart of a Labour party struggling under the might of Thatcher's Tory revolution. Upper Cut is inspired by true political events.

Juliet Gilkes Romero is of Caribbean descent, was born in East London and grew up in Suffolk. She has been a television journalist with the BBC for many years but left the corporation last year to become a full-time writer. Juliet's play Upper Cut received a rehearsed reading at the TARA Theatre in 2013. Her play Razing Cane was shortlisted for the Alfred Fagon Award. One Hot Summer, a radio play, aired as an Afternoon Play on BBC Radio4 in 2012. In 2009 Juliet won the Best Play Award at the Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award for her play At the Gates of Gaza (Birmingham Rep and UK tour '08). Juliet was part of Hampstead Theatre's Writers' Attachment Scheme and wrote Sergine, performed at An Evening for Haiti fundraising event there in January 2010.