#Talawa Theatre

[insidecroydon]

Talawa theatre double bill at Fairfield Halls, to June 15

Continue reading Talawa theatre double bill at Fairfield Halls, to June 15

[jazzreloaded]

Play On! By Talawa Theatre @Belgrade Theatre 26 / 09/ 24

Review by Vidal Montgomery

The press night performance of Play On! - A Broadway Blues with a twist on "Twelfth Night" - was not undersold in terms of bums on seats ( because it was a full house, and based on this showing it deserves a full house everywhere it goes!), but in terms of spectacle; because for the near-three hours running time, it was thoroughly engaging, spectacularly entertaining and, despite dealing with some serious subject matters ( such as how a misogynistic Harlem resists change, made all the more relevant with the recent revelations around Music Moghul Sean Comb's recent indictment), it was joyful for the audience from start to end, evidenced by the raucous laughter, gasps and applause throughout.

The title "Play On!" may also refer to the four year development process to get a work of this magnitude and depth and craft and intimacy and nuance in front of a live audience; it is no mean feat that this splendid work of Ellingtonian excellence by Liam Godwin and Benjamin Burell is finally in front of an audience, and with a truly magnificent cast from top to bottom:

Although the dramaturgy obviously has its focal characters, the dancers / understudies / supporting cast acquit themselves equally well, and the audience is gifted with over a dozen amazing voices ( of which Lifford Shillingford was my personal favourite ), who perform comparably, shouldering the responsibility of energetic dance, tense drama and soulful song, and carrying the narrative along. This for me is the most captivating thing about this show. Tanya Edwards as Miss Mary and Llewellyn Jamal as Jester deliver stylish and soulful performances late on into the second act just I thought the show had probably reached its peak - boy was I wrong!

The core story of Play On! revolves around the day Duke Ellington loses his muse, and the lengths- and distance! - one lucky lady will go to to help him get it back; Earl Gregory, Koko Alexandra, Tsemaye Bob Egbe, and Cameron Bernard Jones play the four pillars of the love quadrangle that is "The Duke", his old flame ( lady Liv ) , his new muse ( Viola "Vyman" ) and Rev, the manager of the Cotton Club clutching at straws and clasping his hands in his hopes of keeping the four together as exemplars of Ellingtonian Excellence - and also keeping the show on the road...

Sadly the live band - directed by the unassuming Ashton Moore and delightfully driven by the delicate drumming of Empirical's own Shane Forbes - are not featured as characters in their own right - I am sure that later productions in the three month run will attend to this oversight.

Despite this, the mix of moods and blues and beats and grooves from the bandstand become the main character, and for me ( as a musician! ) this is the star of the show: Ellingtonian Classics like Mood Indigo, I got it Bad, It Don't mean a thing, Black Butterfly Rocks In My Bed and In a Mellow Tone are turned inside out and taken back from the trash heap of Abersold Appropriation,and are played in a way that suits the strengths of individual artists, and balances temperaments of their characters as a whole as they play moves towards reaches its climactic reveal; at this moment the only other disappointment was that the band was not as big as, say, the English Touring Opera's for the recent run of "The Rakes Progress" : With this amount of dramatic tension in the stage, and with the audience in the palm of the band's hands the Ellington Big band, really needs to be a BIG band.

As it was, on the night Kaz Hamilton and Alexander Polack acquited themselves very well, making a myriad of moods that were both historically authentic and stylistically de jour. And the commitment to shared seat of Chris Hyde / Josh Vadivello on Double bass ( NO electric big band era please! ) brings gravitas authenticity and sensuality to the greatest american songbook in a way that only a Double Bass can. This show is all about that bass!

Having recently sat through the often turgid and salacious KAOS, a reworking of the mythology of Orpheus and Euridice, ( which was not a patch on Marcel Camus Seminal 1950's classic ) and also attended the afforementioned reworking of Igor Stravinsky's "Rake's Progress" ( often not my sense of humour, albeit markedly less turgid and salacious than Charlie Covell's Netflix Production ) I was far from convinced that , per se, " A reworking of Twelfth Night " was going to as vivacious, contemporary , and nourishing to the soul as it turned out to be. But on this occasion I was rewarded for my bravery ( And by "bravery" I mean only braving the inclement British weather ) , and I will forever regard Play On! as somewhat of a late birthday present - ( or maybe early Christmas gift? )

Ironically, whilst sipping free Prosecco and listening to a(nother) jazz function band in the reception area after the show , I had the good fortune to speak with one the trustees of the Talawa Theatre and we discussed how important it may be to not label Play On! as ( simply ) a "jazz show", because of how many people may miss out on an amazing contemporary socially and culturally relevant human experience, simply because they do not know or have not yet been sold the depth and breadth of the jazz canon.

But Play On! is "Jazz Hands" in safe hands. And I can say with confidence that Talawa Theatre have a winner on their hands; it is Black Joy. And "Black Joy" may turn out to be a better euphemism for the vibrancy we expect "Jazz" to bring to us. Congratulations on the fully immersive experience that Director Michael Buffong brought to the Belgrade Theatre tonight.

PS: As with many theatre shows, the stupidly difficult train schedule doesn't really support the 2+ hour format, but I can only say that on this occasion it was worth missing our last train to catch the "A Train" one more time...

Talawa’s Black Joy season presents:

Play On!

A new Jazz musical

Based on Shakespeare’s

“Twelfth Night”

Conceived by Sheldon Epps

Book by Cheryl L.West

Music by Duke Ellington

Produced by Talawa Theatre Company and The Belgrade Theatre

Co-produced with Birmingham Hippodrome, Bristol Old Vic, Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse, Lyric Hammersmith Theatre and Wiltshire Creative

Artwork by Feast Creative

For the full programme, click or scan the image below:

[peterviney1]

Play On! review

Review of PLAY ON! by the Talawa all-black theatre company at Salisbury. (Follow link). This is a musical set in the Cotton Club in Harlem in the 1940s. All the music is Duke Ellington related, and it’s loosely based on Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, though all new text and it is NOT a parallel. All singing and dancing. Brilliantly performed and played. Yet no London critics have ventured to see it…

[entertainmehub]

Theatre-News.com Production pictures for Talawa's major musical revival Play On! - #TalawaTheatreCompany @talawatheatreco #PlayOn http://dlvr.it/TDgr0M

[lboogie1906]

Bankole Ajibabi Omotoso (April 21, 1943 - July 19, 2023) known as Kole Omotoso, was a Nigerian writer and intellectual known for his works of fiction and in South Africa as the “Yebo Gogo man” in adverts for the telecommunications company Vodacom. His written work is known for its dedication and commitment to fusing a socio-political reappraisal of Africa and respect for human dignity into most of his works.

He returned to Ibadan to lecture on Arabic studies. He moved to the University of Ife to work in drama. He became a writer for various magazines and was well-known among Nigeria’s literate elites. His major themes include interracial marriage, comic aspects of the Biafran-Nigerian conflict, and the human condition—as exemplified in friendship between the Yoruba and the Igbo and relationships between children and parents.

His historical novel about Nigeria, Just Before Dawn was controversial and led Omotosho to leave his native country. After visiting professorships in English at the University of Stirling and the National University of Lesotho and a spell at the Talawa Theatre Company, London, he became a professor of English at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa. He was a professor in the Drama Department at Stellenbosch University.

He writes several columns in African newspapers, most notably the “Trouble Travels” column in Nigeria’s Sunday Guardian. He was a patron of the Etisalat Prize for Literature.

He appeared as the “Yebo Gogo man” in several television advertisements for Vodacom mobile phones. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[theatrenews]

Echo: Theatre-News.com Talawa announces electrifying 2024 season - #TalawaTheatreCompany @talawatheatreco @MichaelBuffong @ace_national http://dlvr.it/T49h1d

[cdnzine]

Launch event last night for the @talawatc studio space. We were treated to taster performes, drinks, canapes and chance to talk to the members of the theatre company. . @talawatc is looking for strong experienced Black British physical theatre performers to be part of a dance theatre show focusing on Black British rave culture which has been conceived and directed by Coral Messam. Interested? Email CV to contact@talawa.com ____________________________________________________ #Talawatheatre #Dance #Theatre #blackbritish #talawa #theatre #theatrecompany #studio #fairfieldhalls #fairfield #eastcroydoncool #eastcroydon #civiccentre #cronx #croydon #ldn #london #LondonLive #maybeLDNer #agameoftones #lottieloveslondon #timeoutlondon #aauk #yourcroydon #yourcroydonpics (at Talawa Presents) https://www.instagram.com/p/B4Tyy8nnblk/?igshid=12khqz8xzlk8a

[georgefairbrother]

(Image: 70s Time Machine)

Mona Hammond, a pioneering actor in Britain of Jamaican and Chinese heritage, has passed away aged 91.

In 1959 she won a scholarship to RADA and later co-founded the Talawa Theatre Group, to help address the "lack of creative opportunities for black actors and the marginalisation of black peoples from cultural processes".

She notably played Lady Macbeth in an all-black version of the Shakespeare play at the Roundhouse, London, in 1970 .

Her extensive work in British television dates back to 1964. In 2005 she was awarded an O.B.E. for services to drama...

[insidecroydon]

Amalgam of rap and Shakespeare in search for perfect partner

KEN TOWL reviews a new work of poetry, theatre and dance, performed at the under-used Fairfield Halls’ ‘Wreck’ Love’s labours: Reece Richards and Sharon Rose in Anastasia Osei-Kuffour’s Love Steps Anastasia Osei-Kuffour has put together a (mostly) fast-moving everywoman story that tracks a thirtysomething and her search for love in the 21st Century. In it, the writer and director puts her…

[scottmarshallpartners]

LAURENCE UBONG WILLIAMS IN A PLACE FOR WE AT THE PARK THEATRE

Our brilliant LAURENCE UBONG WILLIAMS will be treading the boards in A Place For We that opens at The Park Theatre on 7th October. This co-production between the Park Theatre and Talawa is being directed by Michael Buffong, Talawa’s artistic director. The play is set in one building in Brixton and tells the story of London’s changing communities across three generations.

A Place For We opens on 7th October at the Park Theatre. Book your tickets here.

LAURENCE UBONG WILLIAMS IN A PLACE FOR WE AT THE PARK THEATRE was originally published on Scott Marshall

[entertainmehub]

Theatre-News.com Creative team for Talawa’s Twelfth Night-inspired musical Play On! announced - #PlayOn #TalawaTheatreCompany @talawatheatreco @MichaelBuffong @ace_national http://dlvr.it/TCJyKP

[snicole5087]

All black Guys and Dolls announced

Manchester Royal Exchange and Talawa Theatre collaborate on all black Guys and Dolls

Michael Buffong transports the smash-hit musical GUYS AND DOLLS up-town to 1939 Harlem in the UK’s first all-Black cast production of this iconic show. Celebrating the off-beat stories of Damon Runyon that made the gangsters and hustlers of New York City infamous, GUYS AND DOLLS is co-produced by the Royal Exchange Theatre and Talawa Theatre Company – the UK’s primary Black led touring theatre…

[theatrenews]

Theatre-News.com Talawa announces electrifying 2024 season - #TalawaTheatreCompany @talawatheatreco @MichaelBuffong @ace_national http://dlvr.it/T47DCx

[cdnzine]

Throwback to one of the 1st renders of what the 2nd phsse of the Fairfield could look like. . The 2nd pic is a render of something I wished Croydon would get and Bradford has. We're set to get a mirror pool as part of the college green redevelopment. . Bradford has an amazing one and it means we'll have a paddling pool with water jets like the Festival Hall to cool off and have fun in, in the summer. _____________________________________ #Fairfield #fairfieldhalls #theatre #londonmozartplayers #artscentre #civiccentre #LondonLive #maybeLDNer #uk #eastcroydoncool #London #londonpop #ldn #talawa #savvytheatre #talawatheatre #mirrorpool #pool #water #croydon (at Fairfield Halls) https://www.instagram.com/p/B2lWwh8HRxT/?igshid=oejs5pxjzn68