4 Upcoming Plays And Musicals That You Cannot Miss
Credits: For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy, Garrick Theatre
For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy
‘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.
Inspired by Ntozake Shange’s ‘For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf’, For Black Boys… is located on the threshold of joyful fantasy and brutal reality: a world of music, movement, storytelling and verse – where six men clash and connect in a desperate bid for survival.
Garrick Theatre. Runs from 29th February — 4th May. Book tickets here
Credits: King Lear, Almeida Theatre
2. King Lear
Nothing will come of nothing.
We all must face the moment of truth that we won’t live forever.
Lear, father and king of unquestioned power, must divide his realm between his three daughters. The first two quickly declare the love he is desperate to hear, yet his favourite Cordelia shuns the performative circus. “Nothing” she answers, when asked to speak. And towards that nothing Lear’s world begins to slide.
As the new generation unleashes the consequences of their father’s choices, Lear takes us into the eye of the storm and its trail of destruction.
Olivier Award-nominated for The Tragedy of Macbeth, Yaël Farber directs the renowned Danny Sapani (Killing Eve; Hymn) as King Lear in Shakespeare’s poignant, morally ambiguous, and subversive epic.
Almeida Theatre. Runs from 8th February- 30th March. Book tickets here
Credits: Shifters, Bush Theatre
3. Shifters
“It’s only in looking back that I realise we were always in motion, always morphing, always shifting. Weren’t we?”
Des and Dre. Destiny and Dream.
Young. Gifted. Black.
She left. He stayed.
Now, tragedy brings Des and Dre crashing back into each other’s lives, carrying new secrets and old scars. Caught in the space between memory and reality, they must struggle to navigate the shifting borders that threaten to rewrite their past and reshape their future.
Directed by Evening Standard Theatre Award winner Lynette Linton (Blues for an Alabama Sky, August in England) and written by Benedict Lombe (Lava, winner of the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize for Playwriting). Starring Tosin Cole (Doctor Who) and Heather Agyepong (School Girls; or, The African Mean Girls Play)
Bush Theatre. Runs from 16th February — 30th March. Book tickets here
Credits: MJ the Musical, Prince Edward Theatre
4. MJ the Musical
He is one of the greatest entertainers of all time. Now, Michael Jackson’s unique and unparalleled artistry has finally arrived on the West End stage direct from Broadway in the multiple Tony Award®-winning new musical MJ. Focused on the creation of his 1992 Dangerous World Tour, he musical takes a look into the creative mind and collaborative spirit that catapulted Jackson into legendary status.
The team behind this amazing musical includes Tony Award® and two-time Emmy Award® winner Derek McLane (Moulin Rouge! The Musical), six-time Tony Award® winner Natasha Katz (Once), Tony Award® and Emmy Award® winner Paul Tazewell (Hamilton), Tony Award® and Olivier Award-winning Gareth Owen (Come From Away), two- time Tony Award® nominee Peter Nigrini (Dear Evan Hansen), two-time Emmy Award nominee Charles LaPointe (The Color Purple), Tony Award® nominee David Holcenberg (Matilda), David Holcenberg and Tony Award® winner Jason Michael Webb (The Color Purple).
Directed and choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon OBE, and stars Tony Award winning and Grammy nominated Myles Frost.
Prince Edward Theatre. Begins running from March 6th. Book tickets here