Black Joy
Talawa presents Black Joy season, a year of celebrating Black stories
Chanté Joseph
Where society has told Black people to “be quiet”, or that we’re “too loud”, revelling in joy is an act of resistance.
Talawa, the UK’s outstanding Black theatre company, has announced Black Joy 2024, a season of theatre and workshops celebrating Black stories and artists. The Black Joy season is a partnership between Talawa, Olivier Award-winning J Clare Productions and Chuchu Ngawu Productions to create local and national opportunities for Black artists. The season will feature an exciting large scale musical production, Play On!, a new touring Studio Commission, and Seed Commissions to support Black artists around the country and more.
#BlackJoy
Michael Buffong, Artistic Director and Joint CEO, Talawa Theatre Company
As a Black theatre company, now more than ever, we are determined and proud to be celebrating and shining a spotlight on great Black British talent, on and off stage, as well as ensuring that Black talents and creativity are at the heart of building back better. I’m so excited to be working in partnership with Birmingham Repertory Theatre. This brilliant theatre at the heart of a truly diverse city.
Play On! is at the centre of Talawa’s Black Joy season, epitomising the ethos of this exciting programme of work. This joyous retelling of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night vividly brings to life the 1940s New York jazz scene, set to a timeless, toe-tapping Duke Ellington soundtrack. This exciting jazz musical is conceived by Sheldon Epps, with a book by Cheryl L. West. In the Cotton Club, New York City, a young songwriter arrives ready to make her name – but disguising herself as a man will give her a better shot in a male-dominated music world. As she meets club owner The Duke and sensational singer Lady Liv, Vy is swept up in a syncopated symphony of melodies, mistaken identities and romance.
More about Play On here
Chanté Joseph is quoted from 'What Black Joy Means – And Why It’s More Important Than Ever', Vogue, 29th July 2020