New play about Black boyhood, friendship and freedom to play at National Youth Theatre
Steven Kavuma and the Brit Boys, in partnership with Kickers and in association with The BRIT School, have announced Classroom Chronicles - a new play about Black boyhood, friendship and freedom, which will play at the National Youth Theatre for one night only on 29 October.
Devised by the company and directed by Steven Kavuma in collaboration with Lorraine Woodley-Bitmead, the production marks the stage debut of the Brit Boys, a collective of emerging Black actors who met on the Musical Theatre course at The BRIT School.
Classroom Chronicles turns the isolation room - a space usually associated with punishment and exclusion into a place of refuge, comedy and self-invention. Black Caribbean and Black African boys remain among the most excluded groups in English schools, and the play sets that statistic aside to ask a simpler question: what do these boys talk about when no adult is listening? The result is a portrait of four friends who are funny, tender, complicated and whole.
The company first developed the piece at the Global Majority Showcase at The BRIT School, curated by Lorraine Woodley-Bitmead, where it was seen by director Steven Kavuma and producer Moesha Francis.
Four Black boys. One isolation room. The year before the exams that decide everything. Ahmed, Marfo, Olanrewaju and Zachary turn four walls into somewhere they can finally be soft, silly, scared and entirely themselves. Away from the teachers and the classmates who have already written them off, they dream, argue, joke and imagine their way towards a version of the future that belongs to them.
Director Steven Kavuma said: “I’m excited to be bringing Classroom Chronicles to life in partnership with Kickers and in association with The BRIT School. Collaborating with Lorraine Woodley-Bitmead and this incredible cast has been an absolute joy. I can’t wait for audiences to experience this play.
“This is a celebration of Black boy joy, friendship and freedom. Away from the teachers and the kids who’ve already written them off, these boys can be anything. They can dream anything. That’s the world this play lets us into, where we get to see them as funny, tender, complicated, whole, and with every right to take up space.”
The cast includes Mahmood Akinsemoyin as Olanrewaju, Frederick Konneh as Ahmed, Nana Peprah-Mensah as Marfo, and Kyan Rowe as Zachary.
Classroom Chronicles is devised by the company and directed and co-dramaturged by Steven Kavuma, with collaborator, movement director and co-dramaturge Lorraine Woodley-Bitmead, musical director Ty Lowe, sound designer Marie Zschommler, costume designer and stylist Maame Atuah, and co-producer Moesha Francis.
Tickets for Classroom Chronicles go on sale tomorrow (10 September) here.
