Talawa Firsts
A Double Bill: Bougie Lanre’s Boulangerie by Kareem Parkin-Brown and Love In Gravitational Waves by TestamentA double bill of fast-paced comedy-dramas from Talawa – the UK’s outstanding Black British Theatre Company.
Talawa Firsts is the stage for fresh Black creative voices, celebrating exciting new writers and theatre makers. This is the first time that Talawa has taken Talawa Firsts to key cities outside of London – encapsulating the vision of 2023’s festival, New Ideas; No Limits.
The two pieces use off-beat humour to tackle themes of extraction, temporality in people and places, (be)longing and the perils of late-stage capitalism.
Bougie Lanre’s Boulangerie | By Kareem Parkins-Brown
Chronicling a Black working-class artist’s hospitality industry experiences, Kareem’s existential poetry exposes raging waiters, kind cooks, rude customers, and gentrifying pop-ups through ingenious wordplay and visuals, challenging audiences’ expectations of customer service whilst making them howl with laughter.
Love in Gravitational Waves | By Testament
Inspired by interviews, this fast-paced comedy-drama explores contemporary dating’s vapid nature. We meet characters navigating profiles, apps, and dates while searching for love, identity, and fate. Penned by award-winning playwright and hip-hop artist Testament (Black Men Walking, Orpheus in the Record Shop).
*Discount applies to ‘Standard’, ‘Standard with Babe In Arms’ and ‘18 and Under’ ticket types only (not ‘Open Concession’ or ‘Pay It Forward’
This is the purest enactment of 'black joy' – as a political act – I have seen in the past year
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Photos by Bettina Adela
