For Black Boys who …

This play, For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy is inspired by Ntozake Shange’s For Coloured Girls Who Have Considered Suicide /When the Rainbow is Enuf.  It was a moving but also uplifting piece of theatre that I was properly glad to join in a standing ovation for.  

Using the framework of a therapy session, the few hours on the stage are filled with dance, poetry, song and, most importantly, stories from Black boys lives.  Exploring what it means to be Black British and male, it journeys through love, school, racism, colourism, what language does, and the stereotypes and expectations these young men face. ‘What age were you when you found out you were scary?’.  This is a sometimes affectionate, but often brutal summary of what Black masculinity is, what it isn’t, but also what it could be.

Properly funny and with well chosen song and dance to change our mood as well as being beautifully woven into the stories.  Great performances by all of the ensemble cast too, taking us from serious to laughter and back again.  I saw someone describe it as life affirming and it’s that too. 

In this largely sold out run it was very unusual to be in the minority in the audience too, and that says a lot about how far other west end theatre has to go.  But I loved it - it feeds both heart and mind - and so I highly recommend it as it has just been extended until June 2024. 

It was one of those plays that meant I needed a walk afterwards to both decompress and reflect, so I was glad it was dry enough for my favourite view of the river again on the route back to Waterloo. 

Before the theatre I met a friend for an hour or two in the V&A and I fell in love with this painting by Japanese/New York artist Hiroshi Senju. If anyone fancies buying it (or any of their other waterfall paintings) for me, that would be great but I suppose I might have to make do with a poster.