Inside: Archives
Fela! The Musical: Review
This was no idle wait. The unmistakeable sound of drums, the sax and Afrobeat music filled the air and I simply couldn’t resist the urge to move my body to the beat. A few dancers appeared on stage wriggling away and seeking unwitting members of the audience to drag onto the stage. They succeeded and [...]
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Theatre Review: blue/orange
Having first been produced at the National Theatre ten years ago, Tiata Fahodzi’s all female revival of blue/orange remains strikingly relevant. The characters, settings and themes of the play haven’t aged with time and the dramatic re-casting has simply lead to a fresh take on a literary classic. Juliet (Antoine) has been diagnosed with borderline [...]
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What’s On Stage 2011 Awards: Vote for your favourite play!
Theatre award season is now upon us and I have to admit that I was a little frustrated to see that although more black productions than normal have been recognised so far, the nominations have mainly been in the category of Best Play alone, not in Best Design, Best Director etc. Ruined and Sucker Punch [...]
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Fela! The Musical Phenomenon in London!
‘Radiates joy’, ‘An ecstatic phenomenon’, ‘There should be dancing in the streets. There has never been anything like this.’ These are just some of the rave reviews Fela! has received since its debut in New York
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Theatre Review: Clybourne Park, Royal Court Theatre
Bruce Norris’ dialectic Clybourne Park (Royal Court Theatre) pulls no punches. Loosely inspired by Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun this confrontational piece takes on some mighty subjects such as territorialism, insincerity, prejudice in America and its inconsistency with all that democracy promises. Ultimately, the play asks, have things genuinely progressed over the past [...]
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Black Theatre Review: In the Blood
Finborough Theatre is a pocket-sized theatre located above a pub of the same name in South West London, known for showcasing “neglected masterpieces”. It is only fit that it welcomes the European premiere of In the Blood, a play by Suzan Lori-Parks, the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize but whose work tends [...]
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Preview: Into the Hoods
“I feel nervously excited. We’re dancers, we all love to perform. We just want to get out there and give 100%.” I’m on the phone with Andre Oporia, a Canadian professional dancer who’s snatching a lunch break between rehearsals for the fourth season of award-winning dance production, Into the Hoods. In addition to popping and [...]
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Interview with actor Kobna Holdbrook-Smith
Fresh from rehearsing for the Young Vic’s forthcoming production of Pulitzer-prize winning playwright August Wilson ‘Joe Turner’s Come and Gone’, actor Kobna Holdbrook-Smith talks to Catch a Vibe about his career so far, staying versatile, why he’s such a fan of Wilson’s work and the prospect of working across the Atlantic. Catch a Vibe: How [...]
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Black Theatre Review: Ruined
One night during the raging civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, salesman Christian (Lucian Msamati) sells Mama Nadi (Jenny Jules) two young women, Sophie (Pippa Bennett-Warner) and Salima (Michelle Asante). Both women have been ostracised by their families and villages because they have suffered the disgrace of being raped by soldiers in the [...]
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Spotlight on Ony Uhiara
British Nigerian Ony Uhiara is no stranger to the spot light. For many she is most famous for her role in the ill fated BBC sitcom The Crouches which made its way to our screens back in 2003. But she has also appeared in Doctors, Walking the Dead, Holby City, Rosemary and Thyme and The Bill.
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Pulitzer-Prize winner playwright Lynn Nottage on her new play Ruined
Acclaimed playwright Lynn Nottage brings her prize-winning Pulitzer play Ruined to the Almeida Theatre. It runs from Thursday 15 April to Saturday 5 June. Set in a small mining town in the heart of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ruined follows the fortunes of bar-owner Mama Nadi as she takes in two young women fleeing [...]
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Black Theatre Review: random by debbie tucker green
debbie tucker green has written an engaging and moving script that contains both laugh-out-loud moments and heartfelt silence
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Theatre review: Off the Endz
Even before its opening at the Royal Court Theatre, Bola Agbaje’s third play Off the Endz was under fire. Labelled by Evening Standard columnist Lindsey Johns as “Theatre of the Ghetto” Off the Endz explores the familiar themes of crime, drugs and life on an estate. David (Ashley Walters) has recently been released from prison [...]
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Review of ’11 and 12′ directed by Peter Brook
’11 and 12’ written by Malian scribe Amadou Hampate Ba is a cautionary tale about the dangers posed by religious ritual devoid of understanding and spiritual maturity.
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Slaves to an empire state of mind
I walk into the pub convinced that I’m in the wrong place. I enquire at the bar and to my surprise I’m directed upstairs. ‘Slaves’ by Rex Obano is indeed showing one floor above The Latchmere Pub. All I can think is: wow this is different. The unusual location makes Theatre503 a hidden gem where [...]
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