Details
Chicago, 1927. In a recording studio on the city's South Side, a battle of wills is raging. Ma Rainey, Mother of the Blues, uses every trick in the book to fight her record producers for control of her music. Hardened by years of ill-treatment and bad deals, she's determined that 'Black Bottom', the song that bears her name, will be recorded her way. But Levee, the band's swaggering young trumpet player, plans to catapult the band into the jazz age. His ambition puts them all in danger.
Cast/Performers
Sharon D Clarke (Ma Rainey),
O-T Fagbenle (Lee),
Tunji Lucas (Sylvester),
Lucian Msamati (Toledo),
Giles Terera (Slow Drag),
Teri Ann Bobb-Baxter (Understudy Dussie Mae),
Ricardo Coke-Thomas (Understudy Toledo / Cutler),
John Paul Connolly (Policeman),
Clint Dyer (Cutler),
Stephen Fawkes (Understudy Sturdyvant / Irvin),
Tamara Lawrance (Dussie Mae),
Finbar Lynch (Irvin),
Stuart McQuarrie (Sturdyvant),
Kadeem Pearse (Uunderstudy Sylvester / Slow Drag),
Lucy Vandi (Understudy Ma Rainey)
Creatives/Company
Author:
August WilsonProducer:
National TheatreDirector:
Dominic CookeDesign:
UltzLighting:
Charles BalfourChoreographer:
Coral MessamSound:
Paul ArdittiMusic:
Tim Sutton