Play On!
- 2hr 30min. Incl. 1 interval.
- Lyric Hammersmith
- Booking details
- Booking from: Wednesday, 29 January 2025 Booking until: Saturday, 22 February 2025
- Running time: 2hr 30min. Incl. 1 interval.
- Age restrictions
Play On! description
It’s joyous, the music is a thrill, the setting is sophisticated, the costumes and choreography are breathtaking... and the plot is 100% Shakespeare. Play On! is a re-imagining of The Bard’s beloved play Twelfth Night, crafted into a delicious musical set in 1940s New York.
Come brighten up your life with a joyful 1996 jazz musical created by the UK’s best-loved black theatre company, Talawa. It’s great to see a revival of this exceptional spectacle in the West End, a proper treat for lovers of classic musical theatre.
Prepare to be inspired by this show set in the jazz scene of New York’s infamous Cotton Club. It’s a particularly stylish retelling of Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night, blending the music of Duke Ellington with vibrant street dance choreography, all directed by Michael Buffong (A Kind of People, All My Sons). Toe-tapping stuff, the sound track is timeless. You can expect pure Ellington heaven.
The story? It’s all about the lengths a woman has to go to in a man’s world. Vy is a talented songwriter. She’s ambitious, determined to make it in the male-led 1940’s Harlem jazz scene. She soon learns from her uncle that women don’t stand a chance of being taken seriously, but she refuses to give up.
When Vy starts to play with her gender, things change. She manages to collide with the club owner The Duke and his nightclub singer Lady Liv, and so the adventure begins. Expect mistaken identities, comedy moments and pure romance, and you won’t be disappointed.
The original production was conceived by Sheldon Epps. The playwright Cheryl L.West was an award-winner in her own right. Duke Ellington was given a posthumous Pulitzer Prize Special Award for music in 1999, having won 13 Grammys over his 30 year career in jazz. A 14th Grammy was awarded after his death. The signs are looking good.
This time around it’s produced by Talawa Theatre Company and The Belgrade Theatre Coventry, co-produced with the Birmingham Hippodrome, Bristol Old Vic, Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse, Lyric Hammersmith Theatre and Wiltshire Creative.
