More great shows at Birmingham Rep

 

Birmingham Rep presents

GrimeBoy

Written by Casey Bailey and directed by Madeleine Kludje

The Door

14 - 30 April 2022

Press night 20 April at 7pm

 

The first full theatre production from award-winning poet and performer, Casey Bailey.

“Everybody has dreams, and my dream has always been easy to say, and nearly impossible to achieve. I want to be the biggest Grime MC in the country. I know what it takes: shell down raves, spin the opposition and never take my foot off the pedal. Every environment is more moody than the last, but every opportunity to shine has to be taken.

I’m built for this, but there’s always more in this life. What happens when your biggest rival becomes your best friend? How do you prepare for a battle that doesn’t involve the mic and the decks?”

The unmissable new play from the Birmingham Poet Laureate. Directed by The Rep’s Associate Director Madeleine Kludje with set design by Ebrahim Nazier.

Casey Bailey is a writer, performer and educator, born and raised in Nechells, Birmingham, UK. Casey is the Birmingham Poet Laureate 2020 - 2022 and the Greater Birmingham Future Face of Arts and Culture 2020.

Casey’s second full poetry collection Please Do Not Touch was published by Burning Eye in 2021. Casey’s debut play ‘GrimeBoy’ was commissioned by the The Rep in 2020. He was commissioned by the BBC to write ‘The Ballad of The Peaky Blinders’ in 2019. In 2020 the poem was internationally recognised, winning a Webby Award. Casey has performed his poetry nationally, and internationally.

Casey was named as one of ‘Birmingham Live’s’, Birmingham ’30 under 30’ of 2018, Casey is a Fellow of the University of Worcester and in 2021 was awarded an honorary doctorate by Newman University.

Madeleine Kludje is currently the associate director at The Rep and is an alumni of The Regional Theatre Young Directors Scheme. Past work as Director and Dramaturg includes; City of 1000 Trades (Birmingham Royal Ballet and The Rep) Swim, Aunty Swim R&D by Siana Bangura (English Touring Theatre) and Brummie Iliad (The Rep).

Tickets for GrimeBoy are on sale to members from Tuesday 30 November at 12pm and are then on general sale from Saturday 4 December.

 

A Birmingham Rep and Nick of Time co-production The World Premiere of
Playboy of the West Indies – The Musical

The House

10 June - 2 July 2022

Press night 15 June at 7pm

“Mayaro village, Capital of de West Indies

Right here you will meet we young folks,
Good lookin bright, wit plenty dreams
But der fadders know not to let dem go ”

It’s 1952 – Peggy runs a small bar in the sleepy village of Mayaro. Mikey, her father, is about to set out, well-soused on rum, for a wake with his fisherman friends. It is the eve of Trinidad’s Discovery Day celebrations, and the villagers are looking forward to tomorrow’s Calypso competition on the beach.

Out of the darkness a mysterious stranger stumbles into the rum shop. With a voice like honey - tantalising the girls - he tells a terrible story. As he weaves his magic spell on Peggy, her forthcoming nuptials to Stanley are thrown into doubt, and the village is in uproar.

While the women vie for this stranger’s attention, the men plot his downfall. Will the “Playboy” win the Calypso competition or will events conspire to unmask his wild tales of derring-do?

Mustapha Matura
Photo by Francine Lawrence

Based on the Irish Classic The Playboy of the Western World, Mustapha Matura’s hilarious reinvention Playboy of the West Indies has been delighting audiences and critics alike world-wide for over 35 years.

And now bursting with songs this classic play has been transformed into a glorious NEW Musical: a toe-tapping, finger-snapping score with romantic ballads all firmly rooted in the Caribbean by Clement Ishmael (Five Guys Named Moe, Aint’ Misbehaving and The Lion King), Nicolas Kent (Grenfell Value Engineering, Ain’t Misbehavin, Colour of Justice and Tricycle Theatre), Dominique Le Gendre (Royal Opera House, Shakespeare Globe Theatre and Talawa Theatre Company) and  Mustapha Matura.

This new Musical was workshopped at the National Theatre studio in 2018.

Tickets for The Playboy of the West Indies are on sale to members from Tuesday 30 November at 12pm and are then on general sale from Saturday 4 December.