大象传媒

In an abandoned pub in Coventry a rebellion is rising.

Reggie Sims is determined to produce the perfect version of Ira Aldridge鈥檚 play The Black Doctor but dogged by violent nightmares Sims knows his dream for a pop-up community theatre in the pub is under threat.

Ajay wants to make his mark. Prabhleen is falling in love. Alex wants to belong. Jen is returning home.

Five people's dreams and hopes collide with a little help from Ira Aldridge.

A drama about identity, acceptance and hope.

大象传媒 Audio Drama North in collaboration with Belgrade Theatre Coventry present the premiere of Karla Marie Sweet鈥檚 audio drama recorded live in front of an audience for 大象传媒 Contains Strong Language Festival at Coventry City of Culture.

ALEX.....Aimee Powell
MR.SIMS.....Delroy Brown
AJAY.....Qasim Mahmood
IRA.....Tijan Sarr
JEN.....Emma Cunniffe
PRABHLEEN.....Manjeet Mann
MARK/LAURENCE.....James Mitchell

With songs created and performed by songsmith Una May Olomolaiye and members of Belgrade Black Youth Theatre Choir: Joelle Ikwa, Kimberley Musa, Esther Olagunju, Ifeolu Olomolaiye, Seyi Olomolaiye, Femi Themen, Esther Tshisuaka, Kisanet Yacob.

Dramaturg.....Ola Animashawun
Assistant Director.....Joelle Ikwa
Facilitator Black Youth Theatre.....Leon Phillips

Director..... Justine Themen

Producer.....Nadia Molinari

A 大象传媒 Audio Drama North production in collaboration with Belgrade Theatre Coventry.

Ira Aldridge鈥檚 play The Black Doctor was the first play that Ira Aldridge wrote and produced at the then Coventry Theatre when he took over as manager in 1828. Ira Aldridge, was an African-American actor who became England鈥檚 first theatre manager of colour before he had even reached the age of 21. In 2021 a mural of Aldridge was painted outside Belgrade Theatre.

Karla Marie Sweet's drama is set in contemporary Coventry where Reggie Sims, a youth worker with his own difficult past and an obsession with Ira Aldridge, decides to put on a new musical version of The Black Doctor in order to bring young people from different warring postcodes together. In an abandoned pub which is to be the venue for the play Alex and Ajay, childhood friends now living in rival postcodes, secretly reignite their relationship. As they work on songs for the play Alex also begins to search for answers about her biological parents and they grow closer. Meanwhile Reggie Sims embarks on a relationship with Ajay's recently widowed mother Prabhleen, but this is complicated by the arrival of his old flame Jen who has returned to the city with big plans for regeneration. Things get increasingly complex and tensions rise after an attack on a teenager threatens to halt the play altogether and Sims is dogged by violent and disturbing dreams and visions of Ira Aldridge, is Ira there to guide him or to warn him?

Woven throughout the drama are acapella songs devised and performed by members of Belgrade Theatre's Black Youth Theatre in collaboration with songsmith and musical director Una May Olomolaiye.

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