Black Theatre shows to watch this month

From an interactive dining experience highlighting West Indian stories to a choreopoem exploring Igbo mythology and astral projection, you have to visit these theatre shows this month!

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For lovers of Black Theatre, this list is for you. Playwright Jeremy O Harris has announced a special performance of his acclaimed play “Daddy” reserved solely for Black audience members. O Harris conceptualist “Black Out” as a performance because he felt it was important for Black theatregoers to be able to look around at an audience who look just like them. It is important for Black theatre goers to feel safe, represented and welcome, in theatre spaces. We hope that other plays and theatre spaces can adopt this same initiative in the upcoming years!

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DADDY

By Jeremy O Harris
Directed by Danya Taymor
26 March – 30 April
Almeida Theatre, Almeida St, London N1 1TA

“A young black artist meets an older white art collector.
A gospel choir emerges from an infinity pool.
A mother stops at nothing to save her son’s soul.
In this Bel Air tale of love and family, intimacy is a commodity and the surreal gets real.
When it’s summer every day, when even is it.”

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HOUSE OF IFE

By Beru Tessema
Directed by Lynette Linton
29 April – 11 June
Bush Theatre, 7 Uxbridge Rd, London W12 8LJ

” ‘See that’s the problem with this family innit, we never wanna talk real about Ife.’

In the wake of the sudden death of their eldest son, Ife, one family is forced to confront the traumas they’ve long tried to bury. As the sun beats down on their North London flat, and the head of the family arrives from Ethiopia for the funeral, tensions rise, cultures clash and past betrayals are unearthed. “

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FOR BLACK BOYS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE WHEN THE HUE GETS TOO HEAVY

By Ryan Calais Cameron
Directed by Tristan Fynn-Aiduenu
31 March – 30 April
Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square, London SW1W 8AS

” ‘I found a king in me and now I love you
I found a king in you and now I love me.’

Father figures and fashion tips. Lost loves and jollof rice. African empires and illicit sex. Good days and bad days. Six young Black men meet for group therapy, and let their hearts – and imaginations – run wild. ”

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SATURN RETURNS

Written and directed by Sonny Nwachukwu
21 April – 24 April
Brixton House, 385 Coldharbour Ln, London SW9 8GL

“Saturn Returns delves into an astral projection reality where the characters of Ada and Obi, take on forms of past, present, and future lives.

Saturn Returns enwraps modern psychological issues of being trapped in repeating self-destructive patterns with a spiritual affirming circularity of rebirth along family lineage that is a feature of Igbo mythology. Through music, spoken word and dance, Saturn Returns contrasts Christian notions of redemption through suffering, with mystical notions of escaping the constraining mortal realm through astral projection.”

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RICE AND PEAS

By Blouse & Skirt!
28 – 30 April
Queens Theatre, Billet Ln, Hornchurch RM11 1QT

“The first major production for Blouse & Skirt! is Rice & Peas – a three course, three act immersive dining experience.
Grenada, 1948. Figgy and Edith enjoy a meal the evening before Figgy boards The Empire Windrush, both blissfully unaware they will not see each other for two years. When Edith arrives in London two years later, she carries within her a secret that threatens to tear apart their dreams of the Motherland.
With a menu designed by Jon Bentham, (Former head chef for Gary Rhodes) Rice & Peas allows audiences to share three West Indian courses with this couple over the course of their life, and discover the heartache and courage it took so many to start a new life in Great Britain.”

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THE AUDITION PROCESS

By Lucie Lutte
Directed by Zara Reynolds
26 – 27 April
The Space Theatre, 269 Westferry Rd, London E14 3RS

“Drama school isn’t always about the glitz and glamour. There’s a dark and corrupted side to everything.
When Lewis and Fatima embark on this unpredictable world of auditioning for drama school, they meet others just like them. Others from all walks of life, ethnicities and cultures.

What was meant to be a normal audition turns into a day they will never forget.”

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